Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW

8 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. There are two matters, two important matters, that I'd like to raise this afternoon. First of those involves the establishment of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide, following approval by the Governor-General earlier today. And the second, obviously, is to deal with the emergency situation with the COVID outbreak here in Sydney. I'll deal with both of those by way of statement and then happy to take questions on both of those matters. 

Today, I formally announce a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide to be undertaken following approval by the Governor-General earlier today. We recognise as a Government and I think, as all Australians, the contribution and sacrifice of the men and women who have served our country. And the death of any Australian Defence Force member or veteran is a terrible tragedy that is deeply felt by all Australians, but particularly those who served alongside them and their families. As a government, we are committed to addressing the ongoing impact of service, and that view is shared not just by my Ministers, but it is shared in particular by those who lead our Defence Forces and are involved in all the agencies of government. I believe that both at a federal level and at a state level, doing all we can to support our veterans as they struggle with the demands of their service. The death of any veteran is a great tragedy, and we remain committed to addressing the ongoing impact of service, including preventing future deaths by suicide and providing opportunities for healing. 

The inquiry will be led by Mr Nick Kaldas APM, former Deputy Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force, where he commanded around 14,000 staff members and a budget of more than $2 billion. Mr Kaldas has extensive international experience in law enforcement and peacekeeping, including as Director of Internal Oversight Services for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and as Chief of Investigations for the United Nations Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Syria. Mr Kaldas will be supported by the Honourable James Douglas QC, an esteemed former judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland and respected member of the legal community, and Dr Peggy Brown AO, a consultant psychiatrist and national leader in mental health policy with extensive experience in health and mental health service planning, governance and administration. 

The Royal Commission will inquire into systemic issues and common themes related to defence and veteran death by suicide, including the possible contribution of pre-service, transition, separation and post service issues and other matters believed by the Royal Commission to be relevant to its inquiry, which is the normal practise in these types of royal commissions. The Royal Commission will be able to inquire into any previous death by suicide, including suspected suicide. It will be conducted independently of government, including the Departments of Defence and Veterans Affairs. In making recommendations on systemic issues, the Royal Commission will be informed by the individual experience of defence members, veterans and their families and support networks. The Royal Commission will conduct its inquiries in a trauma informed way, and private sessions will be available to those who wish to share their story in private. Legal financial assistance scheme will be available to people called as witnesses to the Royal Commission. An independent legal advisory service, counselling and support services will also be made available to people engaging with the Royal Commission. The terms of reference has been informed by feedback received during an extensive public consultation process, including reviews provided specifically by states and territories who joined with letters patent. Over 3,000 submissions were received during the consultation on the themes for this Royal Commission. The National Commissioner for Defence and Veterans Suicide Prevention Bill, currently before the Parliament, will be amended to ensure that the National Commissioner will complement and not duplicate the Royal Commission's important work. The National Commission will be the permanent body responsible for implementing the Royal Commission's recommendations on these landmark measures, which will together reduce deaths by suicide of defence members and veterans. The Royal Commission is due to provide an interim report on 11 August 2022 and a final report on 15 June 2023.

As is always the case with the Royal Commission, we will work closely with the Commissioners to ensure that the Royal Commission is undertaken comprehensively and extensively, and for further information, including terms of reference information, that is available at the website. The Australian Government is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of those who have served in our Defence Forces. Some $11.7 billion in federal funds supports more than 325,000 veterans and their families each and every year. 

I do want to encourage media to report the other services that are online. For announcements like this, I know will have an impact on individual veterans and their families and those services, Lifeline, open arms, the ADF mental health all hours support services, Safe Zone Support. All of these numbers, and I particularly refer to the lifeline 13 11 14 and also the Safe Zone Support 1800 142 072. I want to thank all of those who participated in bringing this terms of reference together. It's now time for Commissioner Kaldas and his fellow Commissioners to get on with that job of that Commission. And I look forward to receiving their report in the future, in particular their interim report.

Can I turn now to the serious situation that is evolving here in New South Wales, and I do want to stress this is a very serious situation and it's particularly escalated over the course of recent days. I've been in very regular contact with the New South Wales Premier, particularly over the last 48 hours, as we've been brought further up to date with information that they're also seeing at a state level. The Premier and I had quite a lengthy meeting yesterday, together with the Treasurer of New South Wales and Treasurer Frydenberg, to work through these issues. The National Security Committee of Cabinet has been meeting up until about an hour ago as we've been working through these issues, and I've spoken again on several occasions today with the New South Wales Premier.

What I would first say to my fellow Sydneysiders, in particular, is compliance with the orders that have been put in place by the New South Wales Government could not be more critical. In particular, we are having issues with compliance when it comes to casual contact between households. You just can't go from one house to the next - birthday parties, family gatherings, these sorts of things are just not ok, for people to go to each other's houses at this time. I understand why people would wish to do that, that's natural. It's understandable. And I also understand how frustrating it is that you can't do those things. But, this is an absolutely critical time. It isn't just about where people are organising large parties in particular places - and they've had much publicity, and the appropriate attention and actions have been taken in relation to those matters - but whether it's a party of footballers or just a simple family gathering, coming together, it can both have exactly the same consequences. The virus doesn't move by itself. It moves from person to person. People carry it from one to another. And, so I'd just underscore the request by the New South Wales Government, which I urge you as Prime Minister to follow, and ensure that we all keep a check on each other to do just that here in Sydney, to ensure that we can suppress this latest outbreak.

To support that initiative, there are a number of things as the lockdown goes into a third week in New South Wales - in Sydney in particular, I should stress - that takes us into a phase beyond what we've recently seen in Victoria. And, what I'm announcing today, particularly in relation to financial supports, would apply to other states and territories who found themselves in a similar situation where they're going into the third week of a lockdown in a Commonwealth defined hotspot area. And, the first of those is the liquid assets test, which is currently applied to that individual payment of $325 and $500 will be waived for access to those payments, as people go into that third week. So, that is for those in those first areas that were affected - the eighth of this month - and for the broader Sydney metropolitan area - the 11th of that month. You can access that payment by calling 180 22 66. What does that mean - the liquid assets test waiver - it doesn't matter what funds you've got available to you otherwise in your bank account or that you can readily convert to cash. Recognising that we're not just dealing with a one-week period or two-week period here, that this is now going into a third week, and with further decisions to be taken. The Commonwealth recognises that, and the liquid assets test will not apply to access to those payments. The second thing we'll be doing is extending the mutual obligation waiver that applies in the Sydney metropolitan area in relation to welfare supports of payment, social security payments.

In addition, after discussion with the Premier, the Federal Government will be providing, bringing forward an additional 300,000 extra doses, and particularly to see those targeted towards the areas of outbreak, and that is especially in South Western Sydney, and to target particularly those who are most vulnerable in the community. That 300,000 comprises equal components of both the AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine into those areas. In that area, I note from the most recent figures we have in the three local government areas most particularly affected, you have first dose vaccination rates of, for over 70s, of between 48 and 51 per cent. And, so we would also be encouraging the eight to 12-week second dose to be done at the earlier part of that eight to 12-week period. That is consistent with medical advice - the TGA approval does sit, and ATAGI advice, on eight to 12 weeks. And, given the risks to people of the outbreak in that area, we believe it's important that they get that second dose of AstraZeneca as soon as possible. That is the community that is most at risk in these circumstances. So, that'll be 300,000 additional doses that will be brought forward and provided next week. We have had some success in recent days of accessing additional doses, which I can't go into the commercial arrangements for. This means that these additional doses going into Sydney, in particular, will not come at the expense of the ongoing allocations that are being made to other states and territories.

More broadly, I note that yesterday it was reported another record day of vaccinations - some 165,000 doses, some 140,000 today, 8.7 million in total, a million doses in just over a week - in eight days. And, we are not far from hitting that seven day million dose target that we've been working to for some time now. Speaking to Lieutenant General Frewen earlier today, 72 per cent of those over 70 have had their first dose, 55.29 per cent over 50 have had their first dose, 31.8 per cent over 16, getting to almost one in three eligible Australians now having had received their first dose. And, we now note that more than one in ten aged over 16 have now had both doses.

I want to stress again the importance of aged care workers, and particularly those aged over 70, going and having their vaccinations. Those vaccinations for over 70s have been available now for some time. And, while we've been, as I've just noted, we've got a pretty high level now of those aged over 70 - over 70 per cent have had that first dose - now go and get your second dose if it's been at least eight weeks for you to receive that. But, equally, with aged care workers, we'll be continuing working with the states and territories again, both tonight amongst health ministers, and premiers tomorrow to implement the decision of National Cabinet to ensure that that's a mandatory scheme. Lieutenant General Frewen has been working with the states as well on how we can put in place more effective in-reach services to ensure that we're vaccinating as many of those aged care workers as possible and ensure that the priority lane, priority access for aged care workers is being afforded both through the GP arrangements, and remembering now we have a much greater level of GPs - higher number, I should say - GPs now having access to the Pfizer vaccine, and I expect that to be seen as a priority for those workers.

Just before I go to questions, I also note a congratulations to Patty Mills and Cate Campbell on being appointed as our flag bearers at the forthcoming Olympics. For both of them it's their fourth Olympics. That's an extraordinary achievement for any athlete to get to one Olympics, but to go to four and to represent the country in this way, and particularly as an Indigenous Australian for Patty Mills, I think that will be a very special moment for all Australians. So, I wish them all the best in Tokyo and congratulate them on that achievement, and also note that Ash Barty's playing Angelique Kerber tonight and I'm sure there'll be a few Australians watching that later tonight. With that, let's go to questions.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Premier says that this lockdown is being extended because there simply is not enough vaccines. You've announced an extra 300,000 to go to New South Wales today. That simply isn't going to cut it. So, is this lockdown on you now?

PRIME MINISTER: At no stage at any time in the last 12 months has there been any suggestion that Australia would have reached a level of vaccination at the level we now see in the UK, which I note is not even yet at 65 per cent for two doses at this time. The national vaccination plan that was adopted last year and all of the targets, even on their most optimistic scenarios, which haven't been realised, none of them put Australia in a position where a suppression strategy could have been lifted at any time, at least by the end of October. So, the suggestion that somehow there was a vaccination rate that would have put us in a different position right now to what was planned last year is simply not true. There was never a 65 per cent opportunity for Australia at this time of year ...

JOURNALIST: Why not? Why wasn't there ever?

PRIME MINISTER: I mean, the vaccines themselves were not approved by the TGA until the earlier part of this year. Secondly, the AstraZeneca vaccine, as we know, has been subject in this country, in this country, to ATAGI advice which had a significant impact on the use of that vaccine in Australia. We would have had considerable more doses available to Australians in the absence of those ATAGI rulings. Let's not forget that 44 million UK residents have been successfully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The UK has not been vaccinated by Pfizer or Moderna, they've [mostly] been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, and the availability of that vaccine under the medical advice in this country has been very different to that overseas. Now, undoubtedly that has had a big impact on the rates of vaccination that we've been able to achieve to this point. The countries that produce, produce, manufacture the mRNA vaccines - the United Kingdom, in Europe - they had first access to all of those vaccines and Australia did not, nor did other countries, at the volumes that would have been necessary to achieve a higher rate of vaccination by this stage. That's why we focused on AstraZeneca, because we could make it here and we could get it in the volumes which would have accelerated our vaccination rate beyond where we are now. Right now, we are catching up considerable time. At the rates we're now achieving -  at some a million vaccinations almost a week - that will ensure if we can keep that pace up, and the supply lines hold, and the supply lines are firming, not weakening, then every Australian who wishes to have a vaccine by the end of the year, it is our intention, based on the advice of Lieutenant General Frewen, that that will be possible. And, I think that's where we need to be. That would only put us two months back from where we would have otherwise hoped to have been, and so the vaccination rate that you're seeing right now, and what might otherwise been the case at this time, would have still required a suppression strategy right now. And, to suggest otherwise is just completely and utterly false. 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, so many of the United States' close allies have been able to secure additional doses from the US surplus - not from Pfizer, but from the surplus, 80 million last month. They went to places like Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan. Why hasn't Australia been able to leverage its so-called special relationship with the US to secure some of those surplus doses?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, in a number of those cases they're subject to the agreements that they already have with those countries, particularly Mexico and Canada. And, I would note that in those countries also you were seeing a rate of death from COVID, which was very different to Australia's.

JOURNALIST: What about Taiwan and South Korea?

PRIME MINISTER: Taiwan also more recently has seen a very rapid escalation in their case numbers, as I'm sure you're aware, and South Korea always had more fatalities than Australia, and we have been accessing additional doses. It's true. We have. We've been able to do that through our relationship with Pfizer, the additional doses out of Moderna, and we're accessing those. But, equally, the focus of the United States and indeed Japan and India and others, and particularly through the Quad initiative and the G7 initiative, is increasingly focusing on developing countries. I mean, we're seeing death on our doorstep in Indonesia right now, and we've just reached out further again. I was in contact with President Widodo yesterday. Australia, working with other countries, will continue to support developing countries whose challenge is the most extreme. People are dying in Indonesia. People are still dying in the United Kingdom. People are still dying in the United States. I mean, there were more cases yesterday in the United Kingdom than we've had in total in 18 months.

JOURNALIST: Have you tried, though, with the US?

PRIME MINISTER: Of course we have.

JOURNALIST: Was the answer no?

PRIME MINISTER: We've been accessing vaccines.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Commonwealth was prepared to go it 50-50 with the states in terms of the economic support provided to individuals and to business. If you were prepared to go 50-50 with the states, why aren't you prepared to go 50-50 now, considering that the New South Wales Treasurer says he's tipping in $1.4 billion in business support? If you were prepared to go 50-50 then, why not now?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I took a proposal to National Cabinet, and I'm acting in accordance with the decision of the National Cabinet, which is that we will cover the household assistance, which I've said today we are easing the restrictions on. And, so we're going further on that for the third week, and that is the same rule that I'll apply to every other state and territory. The states agreed, including New South Wales, I stress, ultimately to be part of that National Cabinet decision, that states would look after business support and that the, and the Commonwealth would look after household support. And, what I have said though to the Premier and the Treasurer today is that given the circumstances we're now seeing unfolding in New South Wales, that we will work very closely with them to ensure that there is appropriate economic support should the conditions in New South Wales require further restrictions. So, we are having that discussion with New South Wales. This is an iterative process, there are shifting sands when it comes to the evolution of this issue. And, we're working very cooperatively and positively together because, let me be clear, what is happening in Sydney just doesn't have implications for Sydney. What is happening in Sydney has very serious implications not only for the health of Sydneysiders, but also for the economy of Sydney, but also the economy of New South Wales, and indeed the national economy. And, that's why it's absolutely imperative that in this phase we're in now, the suppression phase, that we work together to ensure that we can suppress this latest outbreak as effectively as we possibly can. And, we will work with the New South Wales Government to give effect to that, both economically and from a health point of view.

JOURNALIST: How many people do you expect will benefit from what you've announced today, and how much is that going to cost the Federal Government? $500 in Sydney is not going to go very far.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all, the payments are set, particularly the $500, is exactly where JobKeeper was when JobKeeper was withdrawn at the end of March. So, we're going back to JobKeeper level payments, same payments that were helping people at, through JobKeeper in that final phase, are the same payments that are being made available to people. I think the last data I saw was some 67,000 Sydneysiders had already accessed the payments here, that were affected by the lockdown to date. I expect that number to increase. It's a disaster payment, so it's demand driven. We'll pay whatever the demand is on those payments. So, there aren't estimates on what that is likely to be. But, we will meet those payments.

JOURNALIST: So, why is New South Wales now the special place to enact this, because some would say, well, you need to win New South Wales to win the next election. That's just politicking.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I reject that, I think that's an absurd suggestion. We're into the third week of a lockdown. We've provided exactly the same support that was provided in Victoria. Thankfully, the Victorian situation was able to be suppressed and contained. The New South Wales situation is not in that case. And, so you've got to respond to the evidence, and the evidence is there'll be a need for further support because this is going longer in Sydney than in Melbourne.

JOURNALIST: Is that what you're hearing from the Premier, that it will go longer?

PRIME MINISTER: I'll leave, the Premier can speak for herself. I'm working very closely with the Premier. But, if further effort is required on the Commonwealth's part to support the New South Wales Government to suppress this latest outbreak, then we will certainly be there, as we have been all throughout. Can I tell you, I mean, the Commonwealth Government, in New South Wales alone, not including health support, knowing that the health supports of all the states and territories has some $27 billion dollars, that's just on COVID health support. And, on top of that, you've got the economic supports, which all combined together is some $311 billion dollars of supports to the states and territories, which is more than double their combined investments on health and economic supports. In New South Wales alone, I think the economic support's around about $60 billion dollars so far, and you all understand what the impact of that has been on the Commonwealth's Budget. It's been significant, and it's going to be significant for a long time to come. Equally, I note the states and their financial position are in a stronger position than the Federal Government. Most of them are seeing surpluses return under their own budgets they've released over the next four or five years. That is not the Commonwealth's position. And Commonwealth and states are both in a position to access borrowed money to support the needs of their communities, and the New South Wales Government is equally in that position to do that. So, there'll be burden sharing here, as there has been all the way through.

But, what I want to encourage Australians is, on the vaccination programme, we are hitting those marks in terms of where we're almost at on a weekly vaccination, on daily vaccinations. These are the rates that we have to achieve in order to be where we want to be by the end of the year, and perhaps sooner. Where we are now and the pace of the rollout now, we maintain that, then we get to where we want to be by the end of the year, which would only see us about two months behind where we had initially hoped to have been, and that is being achieved when you compare that to overseas. There are two types of charts. There's the chart which shows the double doses of vaccination, and we all know where we are there, and we all know where we're going to go over the next few months. We will rocket up those charts in the months ahead. But, the chart that I do want to see us change on is deaths, deaths. Australia still has one of the lowest, if not the lowest death rate of COVID in the world today, and, you know, we won the first battle against COVID by saving the lives of over 30,000 Australians. Overseas, that wasn't the case. They lost that battle. You know, in the UK they lost more lives to COVID than they did during the blitz. Just to give it some perspective.

JOURNALIST: Just on that, 25 per cent of people in hospital with COVID in New South Wales now are under 35-years-old. Young people have carried the can on the economy, on social life, weddings, graduations, a lot. Now they're getting COVID. Should they be allowed to get the Pfizer vaccine? Should that be opened up for under 40s?

PRIME MINISTER: The medical evidence and advice will guide those decisions, as they should. The people most likely to die from COVID, of the highest vulnerability, are aged over 70. And, if you're talking about who has carried the biggest burden, well, the biggest burden is losing your life, and the Australians who've carried the biggest burden from COVID are those aged over 70 because they make up those who have died. And, that is a great tragedy and a great sadness, I think, for all of their families, young and old alike. And, so the medical situation is that what you've said is true. But, equally, the numbers of this stage of hospitalisations and ICUs are still very low by global standards. And, I think we're still going to have some news there in the days ahead. But, that said, that only underscores why the suppression approach that we need to keep applying at this point in time is so necessary to protect all lives. I mean, when I think about this issue, I don't, I think about all Australians as one, and that's how we have to approach it, and not set one group against another, one group being more deserving than another or even, frankly, one group being more impacted than another. All Australians are being impacted by this one way or another, different ways. We're seeking to be as sensitive to that as we possibly can.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you talk about the COVID crisis here, and I think it's probably a good time to talk about what is maybe not talked about, and that is the suicide rate. We see, you know, almost this Hunger Games like attitude - to steal a phrase from the New South Wales Health Minister - the vaccines you have, the businesses, people dobbing each other in for not doing the right thing. When you see that day in, day out, and hear about those suicide statistics, is there anything you can do about it now?

PRIME MINISTER: We have poured significant resources into our mental health supports during this crisis. In fact, it has been one of the mainstays and standouts of Australia's COVID response compared to other countries. It was one of the things I discussed with Prime Minister Johnson when I was with him at Number 10 that long ago, not that long ago, and I was talking about the role particularly that headspace had played in Australia. But, so many other support services. Over the course of the COVID pandemic we haven't seen those statistics present as they have in so many other countries. And, that is down to the amazing work done by Lifeline and Beyond Blue and so many other agencies which the Commonwealth has poured billions into to support. I should say not billions, but tens of millions of dollars, and they've been very effective. And, while the presentation rates of those services have gone up very significantly, that has not converted, thankfully, into the sort of rate of death by suicide that you might expect in a crisis like this. Now, we will keep pouring the support in those agencies, whether it's into Lifeline or Beyond Blue or headspace, which the most recent Budget - there has never been a more significant investment in the mental health of Australians in a Budget than what we just handed down a few months ago. It is a very high priority of our Government and for national suicide prevention, death by suicide, prevention. So, it is a very high priority for my Government. The Minister, my Assistant Minister David Coleman particularly has responsibility for that, along with the Health Minister. And, so I would encourage Australians to continue to be kind to one another, continue to be supportive of one another, as we have. I know people are getting tired. I know they're getting frustrated. This is a virus that we're dealing with and it does tend to set its own rules, and we have come so far as a country over these last 18 months and now is the time to keep pressing forward. Now is not the time to give in to that frustration. Now is not the time to give in to the exasperation and the tiredness that I know comes from dealing with all of these issues, day after day, after day. The good news is that the vaccination rates are hitting their marks now. We've had our challenges but we've overcome them, and we're hitting our marks now, and we're going to keep hitting our marks. I need Australians who can, to go out and get their vaccination, to book in and do that, to go to the clinics, particularly if you're in those areas affected right now where the additional doses will be coming in to support a higher rate of vaccination in the most affected areas of Sydney. I need you to come and do that. The vaccine will not turn up at your doorstep. You have to go to it. Equally, the virus will make its way from one household to another if you carry it there, and that's why it's just so important for people to follow the important health advice that has been made available and put in place by the New South Wales Government. We've still got quite a way to go with this here in Sydney, and to all those other states and territories and people in other places, I know that they are relying on Sydney to be able to get on top of this, as we must continue to work to do over this next week, and potentially beyond. But, I can assure you that the Commonwealth Government and the State Government will work hand in glove to achieve that result, not just for Sydney, but for the entire country.

JOURNALIST: On veterans, the, you mentioned some of the supports that are there now that will be available for veterans during the Royal Commission. We know that only about one in 10 veterans access those, and veteran advocates want more proactive services. It'll be a particularly traumatic time for veterans during this period. Will there be anything more that will be put on during the Commission?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've already mentioned some of the additional things that go with the Royal Commission to provide that support for people who are going through that exercise. But, we will be very open to the advice that would come back both from Commissioner Kaldas and others, the other Commissioners that are involved in the Royal Commission, and also the Department of Veterans' Affairs and listening closely to veterans groups about how they're coping with the Royal Commission. We've now gone through some very difficult royal commissions. Of course, there was the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, and there were a lot of lessons learnt from that Royal Commission that are being employed with how this Royal Commission has been established. Similarly, on aged care and also for disabilities - different issues, granted - but at the same time, they're very sensitive issues that evoke quite a lot of feeling and bring a lot back. I understand that, that's why I was keen to stress the helpline supports that are available. But, we will keep a very open mind to ensure that we support veterans and their families and the community through what will be, I hope, at the end of the day, a very illuminating and positive process. But, saying that, I know it will also be a difficult process for so many.

JOURNALIST: Last one, sorry. Gladys has suggested a threshold of 80 per cent of people to be vaccinated before Sydney reopens. Do you think that's achievable or realistic?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the thresholds for the National Plan that I outlined last Friday will be informed by the work done by the Doherty Institute.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43458

Press Conference - Canberra, ACT

2 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Many Australians today will be listening on in their home cities or where they live, while they are subject to COVID restrictions, and that is particularly the case in my home town of Sydney, which I will be returning to later today after having been at the G7 and then, of course, going through the quarantine period here in Canberra. This is a difficult time when people are dealing with the restrictions, but that has been our experience over these past 18 months as our country has battled COVID-19, like every country has. Every country has had their share of success and also of failures over this period of time. COVID-19, managing your way through COVID-19, is unchartered waters, and anyone who thinks there is always a pathway that is without risk, that is without vulnerabilities, clearly doesn't understand the significant challenge that all nations face in dealing with COVID-19. But, those who understand this best are Australians who deal, who deal with this every single day.

And, today was an important meeting of the National Cabinet. It was our 45th meeting of the National Cabinet. At no time in our Federation have state premiers and chief ministers for our territories and the Prime Minister met together with such frequency to deal with a national challenge, a challenge that has gone on now for a long time, and there is still quite a journey ahead of us. And, we will continue to meet and we will continue to work together as best as we possibly can to ensure that Australia's COVID-19 response is world-class. Today, we reaffirmed our commitment to that task in the National Cabinet, but we didn't do that just in words, we've done it in deeds. The good news I have for Australians who are subject to restrictions today is we have agreed a new deal for Australians on the pathway out of COVID-19. A pathway from a pre-vaccination period, which is focused on the suppression of the virus, on community transmission cases, to one that sees us manage COVID-19 as an infectious disease like any other in our community. Now, there is still some pathway from here to there, but the pathway we have agreed today I think, gives all Australians encouragement and I think much needed hope, in what has been a very difficult time. We have affirmed today a plan that has four phases, that will be finalised in coming weeks, based on the expert medical evidence and modelling work that is being done by the Doherty Institute and channelled through the taskforce that was established some months ago to do this work, that first initiated that work in relation to the Alpha strain of COVID-19, and that was reported to National Cabinet several weeks ago, and now is finalising its work on the Delta strain.

The plan has four components. The first of those we are currently in now, and it is based on the agreed principles that were set out before National Cabinet, that I took to them today. So, we have agreed to formulate a national plan to transition Australia's national COVID response from its current pre-vaccination settings, focusing on suppression of community transmission, to post-vaccination settings, focused on prevention of serious illness, hospitalisation and fatality, and the public health management of other infectious diseases. We agreed in principle that that plan consists of the following phases, each triggered by the achievement of a vaccination threshold expressed as a percentage of the eligible population, that is 16 plus, based on the scientific modelling conducted for the COVID-19 risk analysis and response taskforce that I've referred to. The first phase is the one we're in, vaccinate, prepare and pilot, where we continue to suppress the virus. That involves the implementation of the national vaccination plan to offer every Australian an opportunity to be vaccinated with the necessary doses of the relevant vaccine as soon as possible, and Lieutenant General Frewin will update you on that. But, today we'll be seeing another record day of vaccinations. Today we will hit eight million, eight million doses administered, and that means a million doses in just eight days. In the month of June, we hit almost 3.5 million doses. Purely achieving that rate of vaccination between now and the end of the year, with the additional supplies that we are expecting over the course of this year, we believe will put us in that position by the end of this year.

To temporarily reduce commercial inbound passenger arrivals to all major ports by 50 per cent from current caps to reduce the pressure on quarantine facilities, due to the increased risks of the Delta strain of the virus. Now, while the reduction of those caps will certainly right across the system, obviously take some pressure off, as we have observed over the course of these past 18 months, that alone does not provide any fail safe regarding any potential breaches. We've seen breaches occur, predominantly as a result of infection control procedures and human error and so on, those issues need to continue to be strengthened, so simply reducing the caps doesn't necessarily provide a fail safe. But, because of the particular virulency of the Delta strain, it is believed that that is a prudent action while we remain in this suppression phase of the virus.

Lockdowns in the current phase to be only used as a last resort, was agreed today. The Commonwealth will facilitate increased commercial flights, those are those facilitated commercial flights that we have been running, to increase international repatriations during this period of reduced caps, commercial caps at the major airports, and they will be channelled into Darwin for quarantine at the National Resilience Facility at Howard Springs. So, where we will lose some capacity for inbound flights of those coming back through commercial flights, the Commonwealth will directly seek to mitigate that by upping, wherever possible, those commercially facilitated flights that the Commonwealth is pursuing. Now, I would note in recent days and weeks that we have seen demand for those facilitated flights run by the Commonwealth having actually dipped, and so those flights we've been bringing in have not been full because there hasn't been the demand to take those up. Now, I suspect that will change now with the commercial flight restrictions, then we will see that supply being fully taken up and we will be enhancing that, increasing that for major ports to ensure that we can keep the pace of bringing Australians home.

We will also extend the international freight subsidy scheme to ensure maintenance of essential freight supply lines by air, impacted by the reduction of commercial caps at international airports. As I stress today, reducing the caps of commercial flights will come at a cost to the Commonwealth Government. So, this is not a costless exercise. Medicines, vaccines come in by plane. Essential freight comes in by plane. So, the Commonwealth's decision to support this reduction in those commercial caps comes at a fiscal cost to Commonwealth taxpayers, but we agree that it is an important part of managing this most virulent strain during the course of this suppression phase.

Over the course of the current phase we are in, that we will trial and pilot with individual jurisdictions the introduction of alternative quarantine options, including home quarantine for returning vaccinated travellers. The work that we have already done, and Professor Kelly may want to add to this, shows that a vaccinated person doing quarantine for seven days is stronger than an unvaccinated person doing quarantine for 14 days. So, there's clear medical evidence to suggest that vaccination means that shorter periods of quarantine is possible without any compromise of the health and safety standards that is currently delivered by a 14-day quarantine for unvaccinated persons. So, getting vaccinated actually, clearly helps, and the medical evidence backs that up, particularly for quarantine. South Australia has indicated that they will be seeking to work with the Commonwealth, having the necessary digital applications, to support that. It would be a very small scale trial, but we want to make sure that before it goes to any scaled up use that we have worked through that, and this will be a very transparent exercise with other states and territories. We will continue to expand the commercial trials for limited entry of student economic visa holders, a number of states are doing that, and, so, we will recognise and adopt the Commonwealth's existing digital Medicare vaccination certificate that is automatically generated for every vaccination and registered on the air. So, that is something that is already there now. By the end of this month, as I've said to you before, it will be at another level which would see it being able to be incorporated in things like Apple Wallets and the like.

That we will put in place a digital vaccination authentication at border, that we will prepare now, as we already are, the vaccine booster programme, and there will be a further review of the national hotel quarantine network to ensure that the standards, infection control procedures and the like are being adhered to. That's phase one. That's the phase we're in, that's the suppression phase. That's vaccinate, prepare and pilot.

The post vaccination phase will be entered once we reach a threshold of vaccination, to be determined by the modelling process we're currently engaged in. This will be a scientific number. It won't be a political number, it won't be an arbitrary number, it will be a number that we can have confidence means that when you reach that level of vaccination in the population, which may include specific targets on vaccination of vulnerable populations such as those over 70, and we're about at 70 per cent now, I think, JJ, on vaccination of first dose for those over 70. That's the gate that we have to get through. Once we get through that gate, and that will be determined by the scientific evidence, then we will move into a phase where we seek to minimise serious illness, hospitalisation and fatality as a result of COVID-19. That's the objective. And our measures, I stress, may include these are still to be determined, but we agreed today that we could say that measures may include the following, once we reach that, to ease restrictions on vaccinated residents, such as lockdowns and border controls. That lockdowns would only occur in extreme circumstances to prevent escalating hospitalisation and fatality. To restore inbound passenger caps at that time to previous levels for unvaccinated returning travellers, and then even larger caps for those who are vaccinated. So, we would see higher levels of arrivals, the caps would apply at what they have been up until now for the unvaccinated, and then there would be a higher cap again above that for vaccinated returned travellers. That we would be allowing a capped entry of student and economic visa holders, subject to quarantine arrangements and availability. That we will then introduce those new quarantine arrangements for vaccinated residents, based on the trials undertaken in the current stage, and then we would either be implementing the vaccine booster program at that time, or preparing it, depending on the timeframe of hitting that first mark on vaccination.

The third phase is called the consolidation phase, and that is to manage COVID-19 consistent with public health management of other infectious diseases. Now, what does that mean? It's likely we may be in that position in phase two, but in phase three that basically means that the hospitalisation and fatality rates that you'd see from COVID-19 would be like the flu, or, arguably, better. And, we're already seeing evidence of that in other jurisdictions that have higher levels of vaccination. So, when it is like the flu, we should treat it like the flu, and that means no lockdowns. These, this is the measures may include, to be finalised, no lockdowns, the vaccine booster program underway, exempting vaccinated residents from all domestic restrictions, abolishing caps on returning vaccinated travellers, allowing further increased capped entry of student economic and humanitarian visa holders, very high caps we're talking about at that point. Lifting all restrictions on outbound travel for vaccinated persons, and extending the travel bubble for unrestricted travel to new candidate countries, such as Singapore, the Pacific and there potentially may be other candidates by the time we reach that stage. Moving into the consolidation phase will be based on a further benchmark determined by that modelling process.

And then the final phase, which is the penultimate phase to moving to completely back to normal, where you would have measures may include allow uncapped inbound arrivals for all vaccinated persons without quarantine, and allowing uncapped arrivals of non-vaccinated travel subject to pre-flight and on arrival testing. So, you may still have at that point unvaccinated people coming to Australia at that final phase. If they're picked up on testing there'd be pre and post-flight testing then they'd of course, go into quarantine, which would be common sense.

Now, we've agreed that the COVID-19 risk analysis and response taskforce, which is led by Secretary Gaetjens, they will be tasked to make recommendations on finalising that plan. I think you can see from the level of detail I've set out to you today it's already got some pretty good guidance as to how that will be filled in. And, they'll be tasked to do that and bring that forward to National Cabinet. I don't anticipate that will be done for next week, but we would hope to be able to do that over the course of this month. What's key to that is the modelling work. We have to get that right. It's a critical number, and we need to be absolutely sure about that in framing where we go to from here. And that will include of course them recommending those vaccination targets for each phase of the plan based on that modelling.

So what it means is, Australia gets vaccinated, Australia is able to live differently. Winning in the post-vaccination phase looks very different to winning in the phase we're in now. Winning now means we suppress the virus as best as we can, which means that from time to time, such as we're experiencing in New South Wales, we have to go through these experiences. That's regrettable and I have every confidence, having heard further from the New South Wales Premier today, that they're continuing to get on top of that, and you would have heard that from their report earlier today. But we will continue to fight on in this period, but we need and we'll continue to do everything we possibly can to vaccinate the population as fast as possible. And I think the performance in the most recent June month indicates how much we've been able to ramp up, a million doses in eight days. 3.5 million doses or thereabouts in one month. We keep that pace up and we'll get this done Australia. And, we get this done Australia and you can see what's on the other side. We've made it very clear today what's on the other side. You get vaccinated and we get there and this all changes.

In other items, which I will report very briefly on, I briefed National Cabinet today that the Commonwealth has agreed this week, took that through the Expenditure Review Committee this week, extending out for a further 12 months the National Partnership Agreement on the COVID Response, which is the cost-sharing of expenses relating to health costs in the states and territories on managing the COVID-19 pandemic. I note that those costs to date the Commonwealth has provided to the states and territories $5.765 billion. So, let there be no suggestion that the Commonwealth is not sharing the load here. We're more than sharing the load particularly when you add in what we're doing on the economic side of the equation. So, we will continue that out for a further 12 months. We anticipate that will cost some $752 million over the course of this next 12 months, from the Commonwealth's perspective.

We also had the opportunity to meet with the Commissioner of the Border Force. We were able to work through what the international arrivals and departures figures were noting in particularly in the month of June 83.9 per cent of international arrivals to Australia were returning Australians. 83.9 per cent. And we were able to go through a lot more of the detail of the way that Border Force administers the exemptions both on inbound and outbound and set up a process with the first secretaries for states and territories to be more continually informed of the facts on those issues to enable them to have that confidence.

We also noted that we continue to make progress on getting Australians home but for every one we get home you often get others who join that list. But we have seen that number come down to 34,000 and we're going to work very hard over the next few months where we will have fewer commercial flights coming but we will have increased facilitated flights from the Commonwealth to get Australians home.

So, a new deal for Australians today, a new deal for Australians today, to get us to the other side. I'll hand over to Professor Kelly.

PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, COMMONWEALTH CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you, PM. So, just briefly on the epidemiology and I think the PM has pointed out that some key changes into the future about how we do actually talk about what's happening in, in with this particular virus in Australia and concentrate increasingly on severe illness rather than numbers of cases. And, I think you'll notice that as we go forward in this, in these different phases. So, so far this year we've had just over 2,000 confirmed cases. There was one death in that person that had come from overseas. Throughout that whole period, other than in Queensland, where they have a policy of putting everyone who's positive in hospital, there have been very few hospitalisations through that group, and very, very few people in ICU. Today, over this week we've had as you know three genomically separate outbreaks around Australia across six jurisdictions. We've had an average of 34 cases per day. So, there are active cases in all but two of our jurisdictions in Australia. But, throughout that and as of today there are only three people in intensive care out of all of that, those hundreds of cases now that are active in Australia. So, that's a really crucial point. It does point to, and will increasingly point to how vaccination will see us get out of this current situation as the PM has suggested.

So, we're meeting each day of course, AHPPC to discuss those cases to discuss the issues that are happening with those outbreaks. And other than New South Wales they are all very much under 
control at the moment. And, even in New South Wales with the lockdown that they have that number of cases has remained steady. We will no doubt see more cases over the coming days and week but crucially that important part of people being out in the community is starting to decrease people out in the community during their infectious period.

The Delta strain is difficult. It's difficult to control. It's the latest of a range of strains that we've heard about those so-called variants of concern. There will be more. There will be different ones in the coming months and years, there is no doubt about that. We need to learn how to live with those strains, learn about them, and modify our approaches as required. I think crucially we know from this particular variant of concern it is definitely more transmissible. It can move from person to person more easily than previous strains. It is not more severe. There is no strong evidence at this point internationally and including in Australia as I've noted from those cases of hospitalisations and ICU than previous strains. There is some effect on vaccine efficacy but vaccines still do work and they are definitely still what we have to chart our course into the next period. So, my colleague, colleague Lieutenant General Frewen will talk more about the vaccine rollout. But, please can I just add my plea. If you are eligible for a vaccine go and get it. If you are due for your second dose regardless of what that vaccine is go and get that second dose of that vaccine, match, don't mix. And, for those of you that are hesitant go and talk to your GPs about the vaccine and line up and get that vaccine.

The other thing I would say at this time it's really important, and particularly in New South Wales but everywhere around the country, I've heard anecdotal reports of people soldiering on as we often get in winter with symptoms of respiratory illness. This is not the time to soldier on. If you have a respiratory illness, even of the most mild way stop, stay at home, get tested, and then make sure that you don't have COVID. That's the same in every jurisdiction right now, including here in the ACT. If you're asked to get tested by the public health authorities, wherever you are living, please do not hesitate to do that. Go out and get that test, that is the way we're going to chase down this virus.

And, finally as the PM mentioned the modelling. I'll just tell you a little bit about that. So, that's progressing very well. As the PM mentioned, that's been mostly related to the previous strain we were dealing with up until a short time ago the Alpha strain. That will need to be modified now with the new information we're getting from the Delta. But there are, there is hope there. As the PM has said in terms of quarantine the elements of where you've come from and the risk you're bringing into the country, vaccination, testing during the time of quarantine, compliance of course with that quarantine arrangements, shows that seven days of home quarantine can be very similar to the outcome of 14 days of hotel quarantine. That needs to be worked through in terms of implementation of that and that compliance piece is the most important. If people are staying at home it's actually, can be safer for them and for the community because of the decreased interaction with staff. So, that's the modelling we have. We'll be, we've been tasked by National Cabinet to continue to modify that modelling over the coming weeks and months, and to really hone in on what is the messages and when those particular times of when we can go to the next phase, which will be based as always on the evidence can be done. So, I'll hand to Lieutenant General.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL JJ FREWEN, COORDINATOR GENERAL OF OPERATION COVID SHIELD: Thanks, Professor, PM. Good afternoon everybody. The Prime Minister has mentioned that today we have ticked over the milestone of eight million doses in just eight days. You might recall that the last million took nine days, the last million took 10 days prior to that. Through July, we anticipate increasing supplies of vaccines. We will also be opening additional distribution nodes for the vaccines up to 1,300 additional GPs will come online through July and we are optimistic but soon we will be delivering up to a million doses a week. Just yesterday was a record daily day of more than 161,000 doses. In relation to the broader population 6.2 million Australians now, 30 per cent of the population have had their first dose. 1.7 million Australians are now fully vaccinated. In terms of our most vulnerable, by the end of today every aged care facility in the country will have had their first and second dose vaccination visit. And the Prime Minister has mentioned we are now at more than 70 per cent of our over 70s on first dose and over the weeks ahead many of them will be getting their second dose of AstraZeneca so the fully vaccinated rates in that most vulnerable cohort will also rise.

In relation to my review of the national COVID vaccine rollout, I have now completed my initial review and I am engaging with the states and territories to understand their plans for their jurisdictions and on Tuesday next week we will be joining together to conduct what I call a war game, many of you may know as a scenario planning exercise and through Tuesday we will fully integrate the national plan with all of the state jurisdictions plans and we will understand the specific requirements of the states plans. Many of the jurisdictions have very different requirements, many have remote areas, many have particular challenges that we will work with them to understand how we can best serve each of those jurisdictions in their own requirements. But, by next week we will be fully aligned and I'm very confident we will be very well postured to meet our aim of having all those Australians who want access to vaccines this year will be able to do so. Thank you PM.

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Just hang on a sec. Just to add to something I said before in terms of those caps we will be reducing those caps by the 14 July. In some states that may occur a bit earlier than that. But as you'd imagine we want to try and minimise the disruption for people with already planned flights and things like that over the next couple of weeks. But our target is to have that done by the 14 July.

JOURNALIST: On those caps, do you concede that the increase in that you're talking about, the facilitated flights that the Federal Government is arranging, the increase in capacity from those will be a drop in the ocean compared to the reduction in the caps? And, secondly, do you regret the looseness of your language on Monday night about AstraZeneca access for under 40s?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the first point no I don't think it will be a drop in the ocean. As I indicated before we have had a dip in demand on the facilitated commercial flights. So, there is already additional capacity on the flights we have planned. And we also have additional capacity, spare capacity at Howard Springs which has a capacity of 2,000. And, so, that gives us I think, quite an opportunity to ramp that up in the weeks ahead. So, it obviously can't fully ameliorate the impact of the reduction of 50 per cent particularly out of Sydney. And, I just want to thank the New South Wales Government. The New South Wales Government has carried half the load and more of returning Australians. They have done a phenomenal job in doing that. And I know it's with some regret today the New South Wales Premier has agreed that across the country, as a national agreement, we have decided to do this. But that's just an indication of their participation in what the National Cabinet process is all about. So, I want to thank all of those who've been working in New South Wales. They have done an extraordinary job. Even in the midst of this lockdown they're still taking 3,000 people a week. And I think that's been an extraordinary effort.

In relation to your second question I completely reject the assertion. All I said on Monday was reflected equally in what the Co-Chair of ATAGI has said, and that is ATAGI advice remains that there is a preferential recommendation for Pfizer for those under the age of 60. This does not preclude those under 60 from accessing AstraZeneca vaccine, but the preference is they access a Pfizer vaccine. I simply said that Australians should have the choice to go and talk to their doctor and make a decision with informed consent about their own health. So I certainly don't have any issue with what I said about that and it was completely consistent with the medical advice. I note that some 120,000 Australians under the age of 40 have had the AstraZeneca vaccine. The TGA has approved the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for those aged 18 and above. Everything I have said on this is completely consistent with the medical advice that is there. People should talk to their doctor, that's what I'm urging them to do. And on Monday what I announced was that the Federal Government, the Federal Government, I never indicated that it was a National Cabinet decision, I said it was a decision that was noted because it was a decision taken by the Commonwealth Government and that was to extend the MBS item to enable doctors to talk to their patients. That's what we did and we provided the public indemnity to support them to do that, as well. So I hope that clears up the record. David.

JOURNALIST: On today's statement, can you just clarify for us, is this an agreement where all premiers and chief ministers have signed up to what you outlined here at the press conference? Or, is it more a discussion about an agreement to be finalised at a later date? And the other point that you've been making is a lot of the focus will be on severe illness and hospitalisation. Do you think it's now time for Australia to move beyond a mindset where we obsess about case numbers every day because it's going to be hospitalisation or serious illness that's actually the important benchmark?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the answer to that question the latter part of your question, is set out in today's agreement. Because what we've said in today's agreement is that we have four phases. The second phase says that we focus on seeking to minimise serious illness, hospitalisation and fatality as a result of COVID-19. Now, when you have reached that threshold level of vaccination, that is exactly what you can do. Until you've reached that level then, obviously, you need to seek to suppress the virus as best you can with community transmission because you have vulnerable elements of your population. So the right time to make that switch, which we have agreed today, is when you move to that next phase, and that only intensifies over time. And, particularly, it may well be achievable in that second phase. But, certainly, I would think in the third phase you have reduced the risk of COVID-19 to serious illness, hospitalisation and fatality, to a level that is at or lesser than you would find with most other infectious diseases. So that is the right time to make that adjustment. What we've agreed today is that by achieving vaccination we move from that arrangement we have now, where it's all about community case transmission and we move to a new period because you have the protection in place of a threshold vaccinated population. And that's what we have to achieve.

JOURNALIST: Do you have a rough time frame, a goal of when you'd like to get to stage 4?

PRIME MINISTER: Oh stage 4 is, will be a function, as is stage 3 and stage 2, of those vaccination targets that have to be set by the modelling. And I want to make this point really clearly. To have this as an evidence-led process what matters is the hurdle you have to clear and once we set that, what that hurdle is, then based on the work that we're doing with Lieutenant General Frewen, we'll be in a better position I think to have a view about when we might be able to achieve that. Now, Lieutenant General Frewen and I have said to you today that we believe that we'll be in a position by the end of the year to have provided every Australian who wants a vaccine to be able to have received one. We believe we can achieve that. And I think the numbers in June and these record days that we're seeing and I think particularly what we've agreed today, see a lot of people say, well, why should I get vaccinated? They go, there's not much COVID around in Australia. I've got more chance of I don't know, getting run over by a car than I have of catching COVID in this country. And to a sense, we're prisoners of our own success in this. If you get vaccinated you get to change how we live as a country. You get to change how you live in Australia. And I think this is a very powerful message. In my recent meetings overseas I listened carefully to the experience of a number of countries whose vaccination rates were travelling like Australia's and more recently had a sharp increase. And in particular President Moon from South Korea. And what I talked through with him when we were there together at Carbis Bay was they had introduced as I flagged frankly, some weeks ago, some months ago, the idea that if you're vaccinated in Australia then you present less of a risk than others who are unvaccinated. And, therefore imposing restrictions on those Australians, particularly when you've got a vaccinated population well, it doesn't make any health sense. And so what has occurred in countries like South Korea is by entering into that deal effectively with their population, which is you get vaccinated, then you'll be less subject to those health restrictions because you have taken an action that both protects yourself and your health and the health of the community. Now, South Korea saw their rates rise considerably. And I have been a keen advocate for this despite some resistance and criticism now for some time. And so I'm very pleased today that what we've agreed, to go to your point David, what we've agreed is that game changing setting, that game changing setting is that we achieve these rates of vaccination, then how we deal with this virus changes.

JOURNALIST: Just following on that, I appreciate you don't have the threshold yet, but considering you say every Australian will be offered a vaccine by the end of this year, do you imagine that we are moving to phase two this year and also, you did say the very exciting words completely back to normal.  Realistically, what was the soonest that would be, next year, the year after?

PRIME MINISTER: Well once we've got to a position of the post-vaccination phase, I think we will have made a quantum leap in where we are now. Because, it's not the number of cases that matters then. I mean, as you've seen in Singapore well, I don't think we'll go to the point that necessarily they have in terms of what we report, I mean, keen to be a transparent as possible, but I would urge the media in those circumstances that the focus that policymakers have, people making decisions about the health of the country, what we'll be focusing on is hospitalisation rates, serious illness rates and fatality rates. Now, this is the focus of other jurisdictions. When I was with Prime Minister Johnson, and I'd urge that Australia and the UK's situations are completely different. I mean, the UK has the virus everywhere. So, the idea of them being able to be in a suppression phase is impossible for them. Much of the world has had to give up on what we've been able to achieve in Australia. And, so we don't just sort of casually let that go. We will continue to ensure that we maintain that for as long as we possibly can, and then vaccinate the population and get to the phase that other countries are in. But, I note in the UK they're only slightly above 60 per cent on their double dose vaccinations now. So, getting to those higher levels is proving challenging. The United States still has a five in front of it when it comes to their vaccination rates. So, those countries, and particularly the extension of the restrictions that Prime Minister Johnson announced on the very day I was with him to announce the free trade agreement, our in-principle agreement, that was driven by them noting an increase in hospitalisations and serious illness. It wasn't driven by the case numbers. As you know, the case numbers in the UK are in the tens of thousands. The issue going forward when you're dealing with a vaccinated population is hospitalisations and serious illness.

JOURNALIST: But going to timeframes, timeframes.

PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, well, on the latter timeframe, well, as I said we believe we'll be in a position by the end of this year to have offered everyone a vaccine that seeks to have one. So, if Australians, if Australians respond to that then I believe that we'll be in a position to meet a particular target. At this stage it's hard to give you a definitive answer because we haven't set what that target is. And so we will seek to do that I would hope over the course of the next month and I think that will give us a better indication. But I would hope that we were living in that second phase next year. And you know if we get a really good response over the course of this next year well, let's see how we go, Australia.

JOURNALIST: Going to that point, Prime Minister that we'll be in phase two by next year does that mean.

PRIME MINISTER: Possibly.

JOURNALIST: Possibly by next year. Does that mean the cap on international arrivals will be at 50 per cent until at least the start of next year?

PRIME MINISTER: That's what this agreement says today. And now, if medical advice changes between now and then, if medical advice suggests that we can alter that well of course the National Cabinet has always been receptive to that advice and we'll continue to monitor that. We wouldn't want to keep those caps in place any longer than we had to. But I would note as the New South Wales Premier did today, that you know, scaling this down to that level and then scaling it up again, that would have some logistical challenges. But, we'll continue to listen to the advice, but that's why we will continue to ramp up what we're doing. I should note that, you already know that we've come to our agreement with the Victorian Government to develop those facilities in Melbourne. I spoke to the Premier last night and we are both very keen to see the timeframe for that being achieved brought forward as much as possible. We've come to an agreement with both Queensland and Western Australia to be developing the joint feasibilities on the sites we've suggested to them in Brisbane and in Perth. So we look forward to that progressing as quickly as possible.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when do you anticipate that Australians will be under this four phase arrangement, will be able to travel overseas without needing an exemption? And what do you say to those who will be ultimately left overseas because of this reduction in caps until next year, given the Commonwealth can't make up those numbers that have been split in half?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we are going to do our best to make up those numbers and we're going to be doing everything we can as we have been now and over the course you know, of this pandemic, we have been able to bring some 498,000 Australians home, over the course of the last 18 months. And we've brought home 21,000 specifically on 144 government flights. And by expanding the facility at Howard Springs, which came into effect last month, in May in fact, that gives us the capacity to further support those commercially facilitated flights. Now, on the other matters that you've raised, well they're set out on the plan and that's subject to each of those thresholds and when those thresholds are achieved, then that's when that will occur.

JOURNALIST: On the vaccine rollout, last year in November Greg Hunt said our strategy puts Australia at the front of the queue, that same day you said Australia was at the front of the pack when it comes to vaccines. Do you accept that the Government provided Australians with false hope when it comes to vaccines? You've spoken about giving Australians hope today. Can you understand why some Australians might not be holding their breath?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes, I can. And so we will demonstrate our commitment by what we achieve in the months ahead, and what we have already achieved. This has been a very challenging process and there have been many unknowns in dealing with COVID. And our Government has never been short of ambition when it comes to what we've tried to achieve in responding to COVID-19. And given that Australia can speak of having saved 30,000 lives, and Australia can speak of having put a million people back to work over the course of the pandemic and we had bold ambitions for that and we achieved them but I would, I would readily endorse the view that we have had challenges with the vaccination program over these first six months. Well not even the first six months, because I think as we've demonstrated in June, we're really starting to hit our straps. Of course, we were hit by the impacts of ATAGI advice. And, as you know the ATAGI advice is provided independently of Government. The Government doesn't direct ATAGI whether it's 50, 60, and when they might change those views. And I know that has caused some concern in the community about how that advice has changed. Well, that is a matter for ATAGI. And that is of course impacted on the vaccination rollout. Equally, early on as you all know the inability of our suppliers to provide those early doses of AstraZeneca impeded those early weeks of the vaccination program. Happily concede those points as well. But you know, when you have setbacks you don't dwell on them. You understand what happened. You learn from them. You fix the program and you get on with it. So here we are today, getting on with it, 3.5 million doses in June, a million doses in eight days, that number keeps coming down. Eight million doses having been delivered now. You'll start to see the second doses now escalate in the months ahead as the first dose translates into second dose, as we see the supply of Pfizer vaccines increase from last month an average of around 300,000 a week to double that and potentially even more in the months ahead and we see the points of presence for the delivery of that vaccine increase as well. So what matters at the end of the day, is you get the job done. And where we've had setbacks we're overcoming them and we're getting on with it.

JOURNALIST: PM, on you mentioned in this phase that lockdowns will be used as a last resort. Does that also apply to state border closures?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes.

JOURNALIST: What are the parameters around that? Does that mean, like, would a Premier be able to shutdown a state, lockdown a state on the basis of a handful of cases? And secondly, with your reshuffle, what message does it send that the resources portfolio the biggest, the nation's biggest export earner is no longer represented directly in Cabinet by its own stand alone Minister?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me deal with the first question because we're largely dealing with COVID matters today. Just remind me again?

JOURNALIST: On lockdowns.

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, no, sorry. That's set out very clearly here in the document. And this is a national agreement. And it is a national agreement to go from where we have been up until now to a new place, and in the new place where you're fully, we're you're vaccinated to those thresholds then as it says in stage 2, that is the one we would hope to achieve next that lockdown should only occur in extreme circumstances. This is what it may include, this has to be finalised, to prevent escalating hospitalisation and fatality. And, that restrictions would be eased on vaccinated residents in those circumstances. So, yes, that does, of course, you know, that would involve things like internal borders and things of that nature. So, we'll work through that. But, the idea of having a border restriction and you know my views on those, and the idea of having lockdowns is based on the premise that community transmission would lead to serious illness, hospitalisation and fatality. So if you've got the vaccination in place what's the point. What's the point. And that's the mind-set change that we've agreed today. Our mind-set on managing COVID-19 has to change once you move from pre-vaccination to post-vaccination. That's the deal for Australians.

Look on resources, under our Coalition, I always respect the recommendations made of the Leader of The Nationals, and I think we've had a very seamless transition over the course of this past fortnight and later this afternoon I'll be swearing in the new members to the Ministry and the Cabinet, as recommended by the Leader of The Nationals, Barnaby Joyce. So it is for him to make those recommendations but I can assure you, I can assure you, that people in the resources industry are in no doubt about the difference between the Government and the Opposition when it comes to the resources industry in this country. We have legislation in the Parliament to cut red tape to get new projects approved. We're voting for it, Labor's voting against it. We have legislation in the Parliament, have had legislation in the Parliament on greenfield sites that support those new projects. We voted for it, they were voting against it. So, when it comes to supporting the mining industry, I don't think there could be any doubt about the commitment of my Government and my Prime Ministership to the resources sector. I think they're clear as when it comes to which side of politics is there to support the mining industry. And the other point I'd make is this. It's as I said, it's up to the Leader of The Nationals to recommend who should be in Cabinet and who should not be. But Keith Pitt, I think, has been an extraordinary Minister for Resources and I'm really pleased, really pleased that the Leader of The Nationals has agreed to continue to have Keith serving in that position. I think he has the full confidence and trust of the resources sector. So, wherever he may sit I know he is the best possible advocate in my Government to pursue that job.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Victorian.

PRIME MINISTER: I have to do a swearing in this afternoon.

JOURNALIST: The Victorian and New South Wales Premiers have said that vaccination rates of 70 to 80 per cent are needed to lift lockdown restrictions. Does that figure sound about right to you and whose failure is behind the dramatic reduction in international arrival caps? Is it a failure of.

PRIME MINISTER: I couldn't quite hear, it was a bit muffled.

JOURNALIST: Sorry, can you hear me?

PRIME MINISTER: The second bit.

JOURNALIST: And whose failure is behind the dramatic reduction in international arrival caps, is it a problem with hotel quarantine?

PRIME MINISTER: No. No. It's about the Delta variant. It's simple. The Delta strain is more contagious, and so we're just seeking to take precautionary steps to overall reduce the risk. I mean infection rates in quarantine are one per cent. So 99 per cent of cases of people coming in don't present with COVID or have infections. And we've had around 26 breaches some of which don't include hotel quarantine, a bit more than that, of which about half a dozen have resulted in community outbreaks. And that's out of 380,000 passengers coming through. So no it doesn't have anything to do with that, it just is a practical decision about precaution, having a precaution to reduce the overall load. I mean, one per cent of a smaller number is smaller than one per cent of a higher number. It's just maths. So that's and on the first point, sorry?

JOURNALIST: On the vaccine threshold, so.

PRIME MINISTER: Look, I'm going to let that be determined and this was an important part of our agreement today. The thresholds that need to be set are not going to be set by political deals and decisions or what people think or what people might opine on. And there will be plenty of people who will have an opinion on it. I suspect there's quite a few here. I'm sure there's plenty inside who've got an opinion and if you go down to the pub this afternoon there'll be a few opinions on that, if you can.

JOURNALIST: What's Professor Kelly's opinion?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is the point. Professor Kelly is doing the work with the Doherty Institute to answer that question. And so that's what we're doing. And so, when we get the answer to that question from the work done by one of the world's leading agencies like the Doherty Institute then that's what it will be based on. It won't be based on people's opinions or their politics. It will be based on that scientific evidence that will say to me as Prime Minister, will say to the Chief Medical Officer, Lieutenant General Frewen, the premiers and the health ministers, federal and state, that when you hit that mark, we have a high level of confidence that you can move into this next phase. You don't lightly move into this next phase let me be clear. You don't lightly start changing these settings and move from seeking to suppress community cases to moving into the phase where you are focused on hospitalisations, and particularly in a country like Australia which has been so successful. You don't do that lightly. You do it on the basis of the best possible work and advice we can get. We'll get that in the next few weeks. We'll be able to put those threshold marks against each of those phases of the plan. But the good news is there's a new deal for Australians and we look forward to working with Australians over the course of the next six months to realise the benefits of that deal for those Australians and their everyday lives. But to everybody in Sydney at the moment and other parts of the country that are affected by these restrictions, I'll be going back into those in Sydney to see my family. I haven't seen them for about a month and joining them there. But to all of us, we will get through this. What the National Cabinet has demonstrated today, from time to time, we'll have a disagreement. It's always talked up before any meetings, but you know what, we get in the room and we get it done. Thanks very much, everyone.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43456

Virtual Press Conference

28 June 2021

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Prime Minister: I'm joined by Professor Paul Kelly and Lieutenant General Frewen from Operation COVID Shield. They'll be available to take questions as well as myself after I've completed running down on tonight's meeting of National Cabinet. National Cabinet met at 5.30 this evening and we had the opportunity to assess the status and be updated on the status of the, what are currently outbreaks in five jurisdictions and the Chief Medical Officer can provide further detail on that if you wish. But I think they are issues that have been well canvassed over the course of the last few days. It was important to get feedback from all the states and territories on the measures that they're putting place and to essentially get everybody on the same page in terms of their understanding of the situation, the impact of particularly of the Delta variant. The Delta variant is proving to be a far more difficult element of this virus than we have seen to date. This is not just the case in Australia. It was certainly my experience when I was overseas. And the Delta variant is presenting very different challenges from those that we have faced in the past. And that was a topic of some discussion at our meeting this evening. We also had an update from Lieutenant General Frewen on Operation COVID Shield, and there's some 7.374 million doses of the vaccine that you would have seen included in today's report that have been administered. That takes again over to over a million doses in 10 days. It was also important to note that all residential aged care facilities have had their first visit for their first dose, and the second dose now, will be have had their second visit by the end of this week. We're currently at 99.5 per cent of those premises and Lieutenant General Frewen can update further on that. Of the over 70 population, that means that more than two thirds now, some 68.1 per cent of those aged over 70 have now received their first dose. More than half of over 50s have also been protected, with at least their first dose and more than a quarter of the eligible population for vaccination, that is those over 16, are now protected with the first dose, and that is at 28.6 per cent. And we also noted today that 236 additional GPs have now joined the, the team of GPs, which brings us to now 5,085 GPs, practices, GPs themselves who are engaged as points of presence for the administration of the vaccine around the country. We will be continuing to ramp that up in the weeks and months ahead and a decision which I'll come to shortly, will only add support to GPs further coming involved in the vaccination programme. Additional numbers of pharmacists are also becoming involved in the administration of the vaccine. They are playing an important role at this stage of the vaccination programme in filling gaps in regional and remote areas where they can provide that support, where there are insufficient GPs in those areas to cover the need. 

Some 221,000 doses of AstraZeneca, second doses were administered last week. Now, that's the week after the second advice from ATAGI. Now, that was welcome and encouraging news that Australians are coming back for their second dose of AstraZeneca. The medical advice supports that. And we would encourage Australians who have had that first dose of AstraZeneca to return for their second dose and the medical advice supports that decision. The other issue that was flagged with states and territories tonight by Lieutenant General Frewen was that he will be engaging in what I'd call a war gaming process for the delivery and the operations of the program in the second half of this year, particularly over the last four months of the year, where the supply of vaccines will significantly increase and to ensure that we can work together to coordinate the actions of states and territories together with the Commonwealth, looking at potential scenarios that could arise to ensure that we can move through the balance of the program over the course of this year to ensure that we will have the supply, the distribution and the dispensation administration of those vaccines by the end of the year. 

Now to the further decisions that were taken tonight by the National Cabinet. The first I would note is that we have agreed to mandate vaccination to have at least one dose by September, mid-September 2021 of all residential aged care workforce against COVID-19 as a condition of working in a residential aged care facility. Now that will be implemented in a partnership between the Commonwealth and the states, preferably using the same system that is used for having mandatory vaccinations for the flu for aged care workers. That is traditionally done through state public health orders. But the Commonwealth will work together with the states to ensure compliance with those orders because we have those direct relationships and reporting relationships with the aged care providers. Now, this is the third time this has been back to the National Cabinet. On two occasions I've made it very clear and supported by the Premiers that this is something we wanted to see and so tonight we received the advice that would enable us to go forward with that measure. Now, we have asked though, that there be further risk and benefit assessment conducted and that be reported back to National Cabinet by early August. We need to make sure that there are no unintended consequences of this decision. We want to make sure that this won't have a negative impact on available workforce and to support that, the Commonwealth has decided today and I've signed off on implementation of an $11 million grant program to encourage residential aged care facilities to provide staff with leave to get vaccinated. Now that can also involve situations where a person may be experience some discomfort following a vaccination, and this would cover those circumstances. So the Commonwealth will be backing up that decision for mandatory vaccination, not just by supporting the states and territories with compliance as a joint effort, but ensuring we're also supporting residential aged care facility providers with that additional financial support to get that job done. Now for me, mid-September that's the latest we want to see it and we would like to see it progress more soonly than that, more sooner than that. But of course, we will work with the sector to ensure this is done as effectively and as safely as possible. 

We also agreed tonight for mandatory post quarantine testing for return travellers and close contacts, two to three days after travellers have finished their quarantine period. Now, the AHPPC will come back with further advice on the implementation of those arrangements. But it should be very clear. If you've left hotel quarantine or quarantine up at the Howard Springs facility, two to three days later, after having left that quarantine facility get a test. We will be requiring it by the arrangements we put in place. But I would be encouraging everybody who comes out of those facilities to make sure that you get tested. You may not be symptomatic. You may not think you need one, but you need to get one. And so we will seek your cooperation for those who are coming out of quarantine. And, of course I will be doing that when I come out of quarantine at the end of this week. 

Further, we will be, we agreed to ensure that we are accommodating international quarantine residents or other high infectious risk quarantine residents separately from other low risk residents. So the circumstance, for example, where you might have a domestic quarantine arrangement for someone because of a state border issue, then ensuring that they are not in any proximity to those who are international returns or indeed near any other high infectious risk quarantine residents. We agreed for mandatory vaccination and testing of all quarantine workers and all workers directly and indirectly involved in managed quarantine including workers involved in the transport of quarantined individuals. And the reasons for that regarding recent experience I think is fairly self-evident. And to allow travellers who have gone through 14 day quarantine in one jurisdiction, say in the Northern Territory, in Howard Springs to be able to enter other jurisdictions following that without having to quarantine for a further 14 days. But within two to three days after getting out of Howard Springs get tested as per the earlier instruction. 

Now, we will also be getting, sitting down with the air transport sector and the resource sector to be addressing the issue of of FIFOs in the resource sector and more generally air transport sector workers. The AHPPC has been tasked to come back with further advice on any requirements, mandatory requirements regarding vaccination in those sectors. But in the first instance, we believe by just sitting down with those sectors and looking at their controls, one of the issues that was reported to us tonight, that the COVIDSafe practises that were put in place at the mine, at the centre of this latest outbreak were very strong. And they've been highly cooperative and been able to provide much information and detail that has been enormously helpful to the contact tracers around the country. I've said it before the resources sector has responded incredibly well during the COVID-19 pandemic and the way they run their facilities and they're very used to health and safety procedures, the health and safety officers on site and I've seen that myself as I've gone through on some of the biggest mines in the country. So we will just sit down with them to ensure that we have those processes as strong as they possibly can be. And the AHPPC will come back and make any further recommendations they think are necessary. 

Now, a final thing noted tonight by the National Cabinet was the Federal Government to support also the mandatory vaccination not just those of aged care workers, but more broadly to support the vaccination of, of people across Australia, we will be implementing a new no fault indemnity scheme for general practitioners who administer COVID-19 vaccines. So this relates to encouraging Australians to go and chat to their GP about their vaccination and to have their vaccination administered. Now, the ATAGI advice talks about a preference for AstraZeneca to be available and made available to those as preferred for those over 60. But the advice does not preclude persons under 60 from getting the AstraZeneca vaccine. And so if you wish to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, then we would encourage you to a, go and have that discussion with your GP and we've already made announcements to support those additional consultations with the GPs so you can have that conversation. And secondly, we are also providing the indemnity scheme for those general practitioners so they can actively engage with you and you can make the best decision for your health. 

So it's been a busy evening in the midst of what is a very serious situation that we're confronting. But as always, we're doing it together. We're doing it by ensuring as much consistency as possible, sharing as much information as possible, and to align our actions and to, to ensure that measures are introduced to support all the actions taken by the states and territories and the Commonwealth. We will be meeting again on Friday. Our next scheduled meeting was on Friday week, but my clear view, supported by the Premiers and Chief Ministers that while we're in this current situation, we will keep up that tempo of meeting. We met last Monday as well and so it was timely to meet again today and will do so again on Friday, morning most likely and, and take a further stocktake of the situation at that time. Now, it's been a busy meeting. It's later in the evening. I'm happy to take questions. I'm going to focus on questions that relate to the National Cabinet meeting. I think that's all we'll have time for. But I can see your hand move quickest David and then I've got Michelle. 

Journalist: PM, was there any discussion in the meeting about ways to increase vaccine supply? And what's your comment on whether there are any concrete ways to do that, such as bringing forward the Moderna vaccine so that we get more vaccine in Australia sooner? 

Prime Minister: Well, we will be seeking to get earlier supplies wherever possible and are doing so even as we speak. Of course, we would do that. We have additional supplies available of the AstraZeneca vaccine. All the available Pfizer vaccines are being distributed to all the states and territories. There are 290,000 AstraZeneca doses that are available right now. They were made available again to the states and territories tonight. States and territories, regardless of what might have been said during the day, at our meeting tonight were very clear about the fact that all the available doses are being distributed and where more doses can be brought into the country then obviously we will ensure that they make their way properly into the vaccination program. And so that's what the government will be doing. I don’t know JJ if you want to add to that. JJ, did you want to add anything to that? 

Lieutenant General JJ Frewen, Coordinator General of Operation COVID Shield: Thanks, PM. I just wanted to add that this week we will be bringing on an additional 236 GP practices that can administer AstraZeneca. That will bring us to more than 5,000 GPs now across the country and a total of over 6,000 places where people can access vaccines. But AstraZeneca it remains a very effective and very appropriate vaccine, the ATAGI advice was always that this was not a suitable vaccine, it was you should make a risk based decision. And for those people who want to get access to a vaccine now who can't get access to Pfizer they can make an informed decision to get AstraZeneca through GPs and the announcement the PM has made tonight will give GPs even greater confidence in their ability to provide that advice.

Prime Minister: So let's remember who the most vulnerable population is here. It's those particularly aged over 60, but certainly those 70, but particularly also those aged over 60. AstraZeneca is for that group in particular. And we are making it clear that others may access that if they wish by having that discussion with their GPs. But there were no requests for additional vaccines made tonight at the meeting. There was an understanding that the available vaccines are all being distributed and that if those, if there is a request for more AstraZeneca vaccines then they'll be made available. The other point to bear in mind is this. The significant majority of vaccines are being delivered by GPs, not state and territory clinics. About 60 per cent and above of the vaccinations are being done by GPs. And so we're not about to go and take vaccines out of GP clinics just to put them in state clinics. The job is being done by both, but the heavy lifting is being done through the Commonwealth programme, through the GPs. Michelle? 

Journalist: Has the health committee changed its mind about the compulsory vaccination of aged care workers, or has National Cabinet decided to go ahead regardless of that committee's view? 

Prime Minister: No, no, we accepted the recommendations of the AHPPC today, which supported mandatory vaccination.

Journalist: So they changed their mind?

Prime Minister: You'll have to put that to them. But that's perhaps a question to Paul.

Professor Paul Kelly, Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer: I can follow up on that. Thanks for the question. So, no, they haven't changed their mind. We’ve met regularly, the AHPPC, that I chair. We’ve had robust discussions about the issue of mandatory vaccination and there were a number of issues that the chief health officers, particularly, wanted addressed. So, they’ve now, subsequently, been addressed. One was about, do we know how many have taken up their vaccine voluntarily? We have that now. It’s a requirement of the aged care sector to provide that information. They are providing that every week. There’s 33 per cent have taken up that dose. We need more. The second one was the issue that the PM has announced tonight, about the $11 million to support people to get vaccination and if they are, for example, a casual worker and needs a day off, that will be provided through the grants. And a whole range of other matters related to these have been or are being addressed. And, so, today, the chief health officers were unanimous to say that they agree that there should be a target, middle of September, to have that mandated. But of course we all agreed, and have always agreed, that we should have that extra level of protection for our most vulnerable people, who are our people in aged care.

Journalist: You were worried about the workforce last time, though?

Professor Paul Kelly, Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer: Yes, so these matters have been addressed by, including that grant that was mentioned today.

Journalist: Prime Minister, the, Singapore is starting to, well, countries such as Singapore are starting to lower restrictions and have a pathway back to normal, living with COVID. Lieutenant General Frewen said today that we can expect outbreaks to be activated and deactivated over, sorry, restrictions to be activated and deactivated over many years. Does the Government have a plan to, is the Government going to prepare a plan for us to live with the virus, to live as normally as possible, or can Australians expect this idea of lockdowns and restrictions as going to be the new normal for years to come?

Prime Minister: Well, the Government is preparing a plan. I mean, the key part of that plan presently is to ensure that we maximise the vaccination of the Australian population as soon as we can. There is a keen sense of urgency about that and that’s where we’re focusing our attention right now. Now, at no stage of that plan, under any scenarios that were considered last year, late November when we agreed the national vaccination plan, was there a situation contemplated this time of the year that the vaccination would have reached anywhere near the level of herd immunity that you would expect to enable the sorts of things that you’re talking about. 

So, we were always going to be having to deal with what we're dealing with now at this time of the year. I mean, I only have to refer you to the number of cases that they’re seeing in the United Kingdom, I think 18,000 was their most recent daily cases with a population that’s 81 per cent vaccinated on their first dose. And we’re also seeing reports coming out of Israel, which also has a very high level of vaccination, under this new Delta variant, where we’re seeing potentially 50 per cent of new cases being people who have been vaccinated. So, there are many uncertainties, Greg, and those uncertainties aren't dispensed with simply by making announcements. What you need to do is continue to gather the information that enables you to build that path back. Now, that path back has many steps. Of course, what we're doing with vaccination right now. Secondly, it’s ensuring that you keep your domestic economy as open as possible because that’s what supports jobs and that’s what keeps people's incomes continuing to be supported, and we’ve seen that happen over the course of this past year. 

Once we get into next year, I think we’re in a position where we’ll be able to be considering changes to how potentially quarantine arrangements work, with much higher levels of vaccination, and the arrangements that are available for people who have been vaccinated, because they present a lower risk to the public health of the community. Over the balance of this year, you will start seeing other groups of people coming into the country, particularly those who are needed for workforce needs in particular sectors of the economy, as well as students. It was never going to be the case where Australia was closed one day and opened the next. That’s a completely naive position. This is a matter, this is a process that will evolve in stages, and the Government has been doing an enormous amount of work. You may recall some months ago I indicated to you that the Chief- sorry the Secretary of my Department was working with all the Directors-General on exactly these scenarios, and that work is continuing, and we will review that work again on Friday week at National Cabinet. 

But right now, the task is to ensure that we continue with the urgency of the vaccination rollout, and that provides the opportunities for different arrangements next year. And, that’s what we look forward to achieving. But, I can't stress enough that the major frustration here is the virus. That is the major thing working against Australia. The reason we’ve got a lockdown is because of a pandemic and a virus. We have a lockdown because we have a new Delta variant which is proving to be highly contagious in a way that previous variants were not. The question will be, well, what will be the next variant, and what will that mean for future plans? I would like to tell you there’s a higher degree of certainty that exists, but I wouldn't be levelling with the Australian people. So, we will continue to gather the evidence and continue to prepare our plans for how we can have Australia living with this virus in the future in a way that minimises the restrictions upon them.

Journalist: Prime Minister, just with the changes to the indemnity for AstraZeneca, does that mean that people under 40 will be able to talk to their GPs and get the jab immediately, and if not, what would it take, if the older cohort don't want the jab, for those people under 40 to get access to AstraZeneca if they’re willing to take on that risk?

Prime Minister: Well, if they wish to go and speak to their doctor and have access to the AstraZeneca vaccine, they can do so.

Journalist: Any age group?

Prime Minister: So, the answer is yes, they can go and do that.

Journalist: Prime Minister, you said that there’s $11 million for leave for people if they need it for vaccines, but what else are you doing to try to encourage these aged care workers to get vaccinated? Are you going to open up Pfizer to all age groups in aged care workers? Are you going to have an education campaign? What else are you going to do there?

Prime Minister: We’re going to work directly with the providers themselves, and aged care workers will be eligible to go and get vaccinated at state clinics, which, as you know, provides access to the Pfizer vaccine. And, this is the case for anyone who has a mandatory requirement to be vaccinated. They’re a targeted population, and, as a result, that’s only reasonable that we provide that. Providing $11 million of support to work with the sector to ensure that we’re encouraging people to take those vaccines, I think is very important. As I said, we’ve already made the changes to enable people to go and talk to their GPs and to get that advice so they can make the right decision for themselves. But, we’ll work with the sector to get the job done. This has been a difficult cohort to, a difficult group to get vaccinated, and this is why I have been fairly constant and determined to ensure we got to where we are tonight, and I'm pleased that we’ve finally got here tonight. I would have preferred to have been here a little while ago, but nevertheless, our determination has paid off.

Journalist: Prime Minister, you’ve gone into significant detail about the mandatory vaccinations for aged care workers and wanting to achieve that by September, but you’ve also said that National Cabinet agreed to mandatory vaccination and testing of all quarantine workers, including those involved in transport. A couple of questions on that issue. How quickly are you looking to get that done? Who’s responsible for that - is that also a federal and state shared responsibility? And that support, that $11 million that you’ve offered for the aged care sector, will there also be money offered to the quarantine sector for casual cleaners and the like who have to go out and take time off of there, from work to get vaccinated?

Prime Minister: No, that will be a state responsibility, and the state will address any issues that they need to address to support their vaccination program of those mandated workers.

Journalist: [Inaudible].

Prime Minister: Sorry?

Journalist: When do you want to have mandatory vaccination of quarantine workers achieved by?

Prime Minister: As soon as possible. I mean, this was a matter that we had regularly discussed at National Cabinet, and there is still, I would say, a small distance to cover in this area. But, still a distance, nonetheless, and recent events have highlighted where some of those gaps may be, and the states will move quickly to close those gaps.

Journalist: [Inaudible] need to try to get it done as quickly as possible, such as, like putting a target of September in the same way you have for aged care?

Prime Minister: Well, I’ll leave that to the states and territories because they’re the ones who are principally, who will be undertaking that work, but you can put that to each of the states and territories about when you believe they, when they believe they’ll be able to achieve that by.

Journalist: Just very quickly, disability care workers - will they also, will the mandatory vaccination requirement also apply to them?

Prime Minister: Not tonight, we didn’t make that decision tonight, but there is further advice that will be coming back, we expect to receive that on Friday. The priority there is for those disability care workers who work in residential facilities, that’s our first priority. But, as it may apply to others, well, we will wait and consider the advice from the AHPPC.

Journalist: Prime Minister, you talked about, you know, that the biggest enemy we've got in this is the virus, not the restrictions. Other countries are preparing to live with the reality of COVID deaths and are preparing their populations for that. Is it something  - we’ve had no COVID deaths in this country this year - is it something that in the future Australians will have to come to terms with, that we will live in a society where, as we open up, there are going to be a small proportion of people that die from COVID?

Prime Minister: Well, the objective here, ultimately, is to get to a situation where, particularly through vaccination, you are preventing serious illness and indeed fatality from COVID-19, and, so you're in a position where largely you're seeking to suppress it in the same way you try and prevent people getting the flu each year. But I want to stress, we're nowhere near that point at this stage. And even as the UK is finding with a 80 per cent vaccinated population, they're not there either, because they've got more than 20 people, over 100 people dying every week. And, so, that's not a situation that I'm prepared to countenance. And, one of the reasons why Australia is in such a unique position compared to the rest of the world, is COVID is riddled through all of those countries. Their opportunity to ensure that the absolute calamitous impact of this virus and the new strains doesn't impact on them is much more limited than us here in Australia, because of the success we've had to date. And so it would be, I think, unwise to surrender up that advantage at this point, and preferably at no point. But, that is a decision that would have to be made, you know, in next year I would think. The focus now is to continue to encourage people to come forward and get vaccinated. AstraZeneca is there for people to get vaccinated, and there are many points of presence - over 5,000 GPs alone where you can get that done. And so, if people are concerned, as I'm sure they are, as I am, then I'd be encouraging them to go out and get that vaccination.

Journalist: Do you accept, for the many people that are sitting here watching this press conference tonight, some of them are going to be in lockdown areas of Sydney or the Northern Territory, and we are still 18 months into the pandemic, only just dealing with a situation where mandatory vaccinations are being ordered for aged care workers, where mandatory vaccinations are being ordered for quarantine workers - 18 months into the pandemic, and these are key issues only just being sorted out by National Cabinet. How do you explain to them why it's taken this long to sort that out, and do you understand their frustration?

Prime Minister: I certainly understand their frustration when it comes to dealing with this pandemic. The issues of holidays having to be deferred, people having been seriously ill, loved ones having been lost, the disruption to people's businesses and their workplaces, missed birthday parties, funerals, all of these things. We are very conscious of those great frustrations, and the pandemic is still upon us. And I know that when you're maybe midway, maybe further through the course of this pandemic, we can grow tired and we can grow frustrated and we can grow anxious. I understand that. That is a perfectly normal response. 

But, how should we go forward? Do we give in to that, or do we continue to show the same determination that we have showed, particularly over that first year of the pandemic, and more? We were able to come through and Australia was able to achieve a result in saving lives and livelihoods like virtually no other country in the world. I'd be encouraging Australians to hang in there. We’ve got to hang in there. We don't have a choice. The pandemic is still upon us. It's the pandemic, that's the reason why these things are happening, and happening not just in Australia but in all places around the world. When it comes to the issues of mandatory vaccines, this is not something that any government should do lightly, imposing on a person the requirement to have a vaccine or not be able to work in a particular sector is something that no government would do lightly. And, as a result, you know, we have been considering this matter for some time now, based on the best possible medical advice. And it was only at this point this evening, after some determined questioning of the AHPPC by the National Cabinet, and myself in particular, that we have arrived at the position tonight that supports that decision. So we will continue to listen to the medical advice on these issues, but we'll also continue to make decisions and set out the way forward. We will continue to set out that way forward., and I'm very confident that Australians won't give into the frustration, that they will continue to show the great application and effort and patience that we know is required of all of us. Whether you're the Prime Minister or you're driving a cab or you're working in a hospital or you're on a bus or a tram or anywhere else, we’ve got to keep going, Australia. That's my point. We've got to keep going, and I know we will keep going and I know we will get there together, as always. Thank you very much for your attention tonight.

---

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43455

Address to the OECD Council - Paris, France

16 June 2021

PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Secretary-General. Wonderful to be reunited with you here today in what I would describe as the boardroom of market-based, business-led economies around the world. This is an incredibly important organisation. So important that Australia was very determined to ensure that in our 50th year, we sought to make an even more significant contribution than the ones that we've been making over these many years. 

Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, I want to thank you for welcoming me all so warmly this morning and by your attendance here today, I know it is an ambition of the new Secretary-General that the many leaders will continue to come and share their thoughts with you. This should be a place where leaders of market based, business led economies come to set out their views and their commitments to how we continue to ensure we have business led growth and how the market based economic model delivers for our citizens, delivers for our region and indeed delivers for the global economy. 

I also want to acknowledge Australia's ambassador to the OECD, Dr Alex Robson, we've known each other for many years. And I want to thank him for his contribution here as our Ambassador and for his engagement and his leadership within this esteemed organisation. I also want to acknowledge the many Australians who work here at the OECD and its many partner bodies. Australia is very active in such organisations and we send our best and our brightest and our most passionate and committed to the principles of market based economies of liberal democracies to engage in these important institutions. So I thank them for the work that they do here on Australia's behalf, but also I think more broadly in the service of the great values of this organisation. 

It's been a privilege to join you here at the headquarters, especially this month, because Australia is celebrating two significant milestones in our relationship with the OECD. The first, of course, is that we became an OECD member 50 years ago. And today I'm honoured to be gifting this piece of art, which is behind us here, to the OECD in honour of that anniversary, recognising the relationship that we have with the OECD and its many members. It's a beautiful painting. It's called Seven Sisters by an indigenous Australian artist, Michelle Butler Nakamarra. And it reflects who we are as Australians and where we come from and what connects us to the world. And I hope it is a reminder of the enduring relationship not only that Australia has with the OECD, but each and every member of the OECD. 

The second milestone though, is a fairly obvious one. And, because it is the start of Mathias Cormann's term as Secretary-General. We are very proud of Mathias' achievements in Australia. As Mathias said, Australia is a highly successful, multicultural society. And Mathias' own personal story is a reflection of that national story in Australia. And for him to have been given the great honour to serve as Secretary-General of this organisation and having won the confidence and support of the many members of the OECD, this is truly a significant time. It's the first time ever that the OECD has been led in this role by an Australian and the first time the OECD has been led by an individual from the Asia Pacific and to my Asia Pacific members who are sitting around the table, I'm sure that is equally welcome. Because the OECD spans not just one part of the world, but all the world, whether it's for the Americas or the Indo-Pacific across Europe and the United Kingdom. And so it is important that it continues to maintain that global focus on the challenges confronting market economies all around the world. 

Mathias will do an outstanding job. I know that for a fact, because I've worked with him closely over many years. He's a person of great vision, conviction, but importantly, dedication. He is an extremely hard worker. When given the task of leadership and service, then he never rests. He ensures that he follows through on the commitments that he makes to each of you. You will enjoy a strong bond of trust with your Secretary-General. That is my experience and I know it is the experience of all those who have worked with him. It is also a reflection of his skills and experience, as I have said. It's fitting recognition, I think, of Australia's standing amongst fellow democracies and the unique and valued perspective, and agency that Australia brings to the challenges the world faces. And we all know there are many of those right now battling the global pandemic and the recession that pandemic has caused. Ensuring a strong business led, underline, underscore, business led economic recovery. A global trading system and rules based order that is under serious strain and threat. Driving ambitious and effective action on climate change, getting results on climate change. Performance on climate change matters at least as much as ambition on climate change. And these two should be kept strongly in balance. Above all though, the defining issue, I believe, for the global economy and regional stability, is the security and prosperity environment that is created by ensuring we address the great powers strategic competition that is occurring within the Indo Pacific region. Rapid military modernisation, tension over territorial claims, heightened economic coercion, undermining of international law, including the law of the sea, through to enhanced disinformation, the foreign interference, cyber threats enabled by new and emerging technologies. At this moment in history, international institutions like the OECD, institutions founded, I stress, on liberal democratic market based economic models and values. They are more important than ever for stability in our world and in the various reasons from which we come. Mathias said in his first speech as Secretary-General, 'the OECD is a force for good in the world. We have the opportunity and the collective responsibility to use it to its full potential.' And I concur with his remarks. The OECD is a pillar of the multilateral system. It makes positive differences in the lives and livelihoods of billions of people. Our citizens in our nations that we are here representing. 

The OECD's convention, agreed back in 1960, declares that economic strength and prosperity are essential to the preservation of individual liberty and the increase of general well-being. I want to pause on this point. For democracies around the world to demonstrate their effectiveness, they must demonstrate their effectiveness at home, in their own societies, in their own economies. Our economies are strong, but that only gives us the opportunities to ensure that our societies are strong. A strong society supported by social systems, on health services, education services, tolerance, respect for diversity, all of the things that go to making a successful, functional, liberal based democracy. All of this is enabled, made possible, only if it's built on a platform of a strong economy. Our economic model as market based economies, business led economies, is what enables social cohesion to be most successful. For social policy and supports to be most successful, for services that whether it's those who live with a disability or perhaps those who are in marginalised communities seeking access to services, particularly the elderly. In one of many ageing economies that sit around this table, our ability to be effective in improving the well-being and lives of all of our citizens depends first and foremost on our ability to ensure that our economies are strong. The dividend of a strong economy is a strong society, and that is the purpose for ensuring that we get our economic settings so right. So we need all nations, not only the 38 member countries of the OECD, to continue to strive to achieve these goals of stronger economies and our market based systems and to participate in a global system in ways that foster development cooperation, which the OECD provides the opportunity for. We bring our own distinctive perspective as Australians to these challenges, as we always do. But they are also based on principles and values that are shared with so many around this table. We share so many aspects of our national character with the character of those nations represented around this table. Our interests are inextricably linked to an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific region. That is our interest and a strategic balance in the region that favours freedom and allows us to be who we are. To make our Australian way as the many other nations of the Indo-Pacific seek to make their way, the Japanese way, the Indonesian way, the Malaysia way. All of these countries seeking to pursue their own objectives and national interests for the betterment of their own societies and to do so in a free and open Indo-Pacific consistent with respecting the national sovereignty of all nations. As the world grapples with a challenging set of circumstances, these values must be our guide. 

So the OECD has a big agenda and a lot of work ahead of it. Whether it's helping chart a course for business led economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic, or delivering cleaner, more sustainable and more inclusive growth, or supporting a free and fair trading system, or achieving a more equitable international taxation system, or seizing the opportunities of managing the risks of digital transformation, which both enables our economies, but also can present very serious risks at the same time. On all of these and more, the OECD's advocacy, expertise and evidence based analysis is absolutely critical. A source of truth in the room, a source of real facts in the room to guide the discussions and the decisions of leaders, which ever table we gather around. Whether it's the OECD table, the G20 table, the G7 table, whichever table it is, the work that the OECD does, puts the facts on the table to guide those discussions. The analysis that is done, incredibly important to ensure that evidence based decisions are what is guiding global economic policy. 

So this year marks the 60th anniversary of the OECD's founding and of course the world has changed considerably over that time, as Mathias has said, we also need to remember what makes us strong and resilient. So as to navigate the challenges of our time we should turn to what served us so well in the past, open and competitive markets. Trade, investment and innovation and of course liberal democratic norms and values. An international order where countries agree rules and stick to them, and abide by them. As I told Australians before I left, making the case for business led growth. Now, this has worked extremely well for Australia. Our recovery is like few others around the world, particularly as we come through this pandemic. Australia was only one of two countries who gathered together in Cornwall at the G7 Plus, together with the Republic of Korea that could point to an economy that is larger today than it was before the pandemic. Australia has more people employed today than there were before the pandemic hit. A v-shaped recovery, we have seen to be a reality in Australia. That is not something that we take for granted as we move forward. And that's why we will always be an advocate for the free and fair rules-based systems for international trade founded on open markets. Because we understand that Australia's prosperity rests squarely on maintaining our position as an outward looking, trading economy. To quote the former New Zealand Prime Minister, Bill English, we understand in our part of the world with economies of our size, that no one gets rich selling things to themselves. We have to engage with the rest of the world and economies like ours have always done that successfully. But it requires an integrated, fair rules-based system to engage in that trade and to be free from coercion that can occur. 

We will never overcome our present challenges by relinquishing these hard won lessons of the past. I'm pleased too, that the OECD is committed to strengthen its outreach in the Asia-Pacific. This region is at the centre of significant economic and geopolitical change, and it's in all of our interests that it recovers quickly from the pandemic and [inaudible] downturn. That it remains open, inclusive, secure and resilient. I had the pleasure of meeting with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee on my travels here last week. Singapore shares a commitment to open rules based international trade, and together we've been breaking new ground with the digital economy. This is one great example of the potential of the region. Last week I attended the G7 summit in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, and I again want to pass on my congratulations to the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Johnson for his excellent leadership of that forum. In fact, Australia was only one of four guest countries to attend the extension programme, together with India, South Africa and the Republic of Korea. And I took the opportunity to share there my perspective on those challenges, especially as they relate to the Indo-Pacific region. And we discussed how like minded countries can cooperate. And there were really four areas, and I'll finish on these. 

First of all, there is the necessity if we are to preserve a world order that favours freedom. I've often paraphrased Benjamin Franklin when speaking to the Republic of the United States, when asked what was achieved, a republic, if we can keep it. The same charge is there for liberal democracies and market based economies all around the world, a world that favours freedom, a world where business led growth is the driving model for economic prosperity, which enables liberty and improvement in social standards around the world. All of this is what the international system, supported by nations like Australia and all of those represented around this room today. Those values that underpin those institutions are so critical so that we have a world order that favours freedom, if we can keep it. And it is for us to do the work to ensure that we do, working together. So working together on strategic and defence issues is a natural association to that end. Working together in multilateral fora such as this to address very significant issues. Obviously the economy, the border and other forums to address COVID, to address climate change, to reinforce our economies, supply chains, critical supply chains that can be relied upon in good seasons and difficult seasons, and demonstrating in our own economies, in our own regions and more broadly the effectiveness of liberal, market-based democracies and economies to be able to deliver what our citizens are seeking.

On the issue of economic growth and business led economic growth, one of the most significant challenges we face in addition to the digital transformation and the many issues that come around that, is the new energy economy that the world will be moving to, and indeed already is moving to, over the next few years. A carbon neutral economy, a net zero economy when it comes to carbon emissions. This is the future. That is the reality. The issue of if and when, these are matters that have been determined around the world. So we must focus our attention on the how. The how is where Australia's mind is focused. How do we achieve that. But at the same time ensure that the jobs of those who work in our heavy industries who make things, making things that are necessary for the well-being of our peoples. Their material standards and their way of life. These things we have to be able to achieve and not sacrifice when it comes to moving towards a carbon neutral economy. We have the wits. We have the capabilities. We have the technological advances that enable us to solve this problem. As I said at the G7, to address COVID, we had to find a vaccine. It was obvious we had to find a vaccine. So the world set about finding not just one, but many vaccines and a vaccine that a year ago, no country, no scientist had ever found before. But it was done because there was a great global need to find that vaccine to ensure that we could take on this dreadful virus. I see climate change very similarly, it requires a technological solution. We all know what happens when technology intervenes in world energy markets. We've seen it with shale gas. We've seen it with many other transformational changes in the energy economy that have occurred on the basis of technology. It completely reorientates economic and political systems, the reliance of nations and their engagement with each other. To achieve a carbon neutral economy globally, regionally, domestically requires an unprecedented effort in focusing on the technological solves. Australians are very practical people, we tend to focus more on how to do it rather than talking about it. And that's what we need to address climate change. We need to focus on how to do it. Not just the need to do it. The need to do it, I think, is something that has got the level of acceptance necessary to go to that next stage. So it is the how that our economies need to focus on and invest our wealth in finding those solutions. In Australia, we are focusing heavily on a range of technologies, hydrogen in particular, and to make that work. But we've got to be specific about it. We need to get the cost of producing hydrogen down to $2 Australian or around about $1.50 US for this to have the transformational impact that is needed. And the reason I put that price on it, friends, is this. It's not good enough to reduce emissions in advanced economies. The Special Envoy from from the United States, former Secretary Kerry, I thought, put this incredibly well and I commend him for it, when he said at the outset of his mission; that the United States could reduce their emissions to zero, but if that is not achieved in the developing world, and he specifically mentioned China, then the goal of addressing climate change will not be achieved. Now, that is not a criticism of any developing economy. I want to stress this, because what it is a call to do is ensure that the solve that is in place for advanced economies on addressing climate change has to be the same in developing economies. Carbon emissions don't have national accents. They don't speak with that wonderful Irish lilt or an Australian twang. They're emissions. They don't understand borders. They don't have favourite cultural dishes, they are just emissions. And so it has to work everywhere if it's going to work anywhere. And that's why the technology has to perform at a cost that is real and competitive with the alternatives that the world is seeking to move away from. It has to work in India. It has to work in Vietnam. It has to work in Indonesia, as well as Australia, the United Kingdom, France or anywhere else. And that means we have to apply all of our effort to get the cost and scale of delivering those technologies on the ground in all of those places. Otherwise, we will fail. 

Australia has reduced our carbon emissions by 20 per cent since 2005. There are a lot of countries that sit around this table that cannot claim that. Australia has not only met our 2020 commitments, we beat them. We have set our Paris commitments and we will beat them as well. And we will invest all of our effort in ensuring that we get the technologies in place that will ensure that we can move to this new economy, that will not see regions forsaken, that will not see industry shut down, that will not see the cost of living for families in suburbs and towns and rural areas and cities across the world become unreachable because of the costs that have been imposed on them through going through this change. There is a better way and the better way is finding the technological solutions, and that is what we are committed to. Partnerships already agreed with Germany, Japan and Singapore. Shortly, the United Kingdom. I believe, also here in France as well, with a very good discussion I had with President Macron last night. Technology is the way through this. That's how it's done in market based economies. That's how we get it done in market based companies. And we allow our business sector, our innovators, our scientists, our researchers to be enabled and find those solutions, and then we scale them up and we solve the problem. So with those comments, Mathias, passionate perhaps, but that's the Australian way, isn't it? 

Address, OECD Council - Paris, France

28 July 2022

---

PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Secretary-General. Wonderful to be reunited with you here today in what I would describe as the boardroom of market-based, business-led economies around the world. This is an incredibly important organisation. So important that Australia was very determined to ensure that in our 50th year, we sought to make an even more significant contribution than the ones that we've been making over these many years. 

Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, I want to thank you for welcoming me all so warmly this morning and by your attendance here today, I know it is an ambition of the new Secretary-General that the many leaders will continue to come and share their thoughts with you. This should be a place where leaders of market based, business led economies come to set out their views and their commitments to how we continue to ensure we have business led growth and how the market based economic model delivers for our citizens, delivers for our region and indeed delivers for the global economy. 

I also want to acknowledge Australia's ambassador to the OECD, Dr Alex Robson, we've known each other for many years. And I want to thank him for his contribution here as our Ambassador and for his engagement and his leadership within this esteemed organisation. I also want to acknowledge the many Australians who work here at the OECD and its many partner bodies. Australia is very active in such organisations and we send our best and our brightest and our most passionate and committed to the principles of market based economies of liberal democracies to engage in these important institutions. So I thank them for the work that they do here on Australia's behalf, but also I think more broadly in the service of the great values of this organisation. 

It's been a privilege to join you here at the headquarters, especially this month, because Australia is celebrating two significant milestones in our relationship with the OECD. The first, of course, is that we became an OECD member 50 years ago. And today I'm honoured to be gifting this piece of art, which is behind us here, to the OECD in honour of that anniversary, recognising the relationship that we have with the OECD and its many members. It's a beautiful painting. It's called Seven Sisters by an indigenous Australian artist, Michelle Butler Nakamarra. And it reflects who we are as Australians and where we come from and what connects us to the world. And I hope it is a reminder of the enduring relationship not only that Australia has with the OECD, but each and every member of the OECD. 

The second milestone though, is a fairly obvious one. And, because it is the start of Mathias Cormann's term as Secretary-General. We are very proud of Mathias' achievements in Australia. As Mathias said, Australia is a highly successful, multicultural society. And Mathias' own personal story is a reflection of that national story in Australia. And for him to have been given the great honour to serve as Secretary-General of this organisation and having won the confidence and support of the many members of the OECD, this is truly a significant time. It's the first time ever that the OECD has been led in this role by an Australian and the first time the OECD has been led by an individual from the Asia Pacific and to my Asia Pacific members who are sitting around the table, I'm sure that is equally welcome. Because the OECD spans not just one part of the world, but all the world, whether it's for the Americas or the Indo-Pacific across Europe and the United Kingdom. And so it is important that it continues to maintain that global focus on the challenges confronting market economies all around the world. 

Mathias will do an outstanding job. I know that for a fact, because I've worked with him closely over many years. He's a person of great vision, conviction, but importantly, dedication. He is an extremely hard worker. When given the task of leadership and service, then he never rests. He ensures that he follows through on the commitments that he makes to each of you. You will enjoy a strong bond of trust with your Secretary-General. That is my experience and I know it is the experience of all those who have worked with him. It is also a reflection of his skills and experience, as I have said. It's fitting recognition, I think, of Australia's standing amongst fellow democracies and the unique and valued perspective, and agency that Australia brings to the challenges the world faces. And we all know there are many of those right now battling the global pandemic and the recession that pandemic has caused. Ensuring a strong business led, underline, underscore, business led economic recovery. A global trading system and rules based order that is under serious strain and threat. Driving ambitious and effective action on climate change, getting results on climate change. Performance on climate change matters at least as much as ambition on climate change. And these two should be kept strongly in balance. Above all though, the defining issue, I believe, for the global economy and regional stability, is the security and prosperity environment that is created by ensuring we address the great powers strategic competition that is occurring within the Indo Pacific region. Rapid military modernisation, tension over territorial claims, heightened economic coercion, undermining of international law, including the law of the sea, through to enhanced disinformation, the foreign interference, cyber threats enabled by new and emerging technologies. At this moment in history, international institutions like the OECD, institutions founded, I stress, on liberal democratic market based economic models and values. They are more important than ever for stability in our world and in the various reasons from which we come. Mathias said in his first speech as Secretary-General, 'the OECD is a force for good in the world. We have the opportunity and the collective responsibility to use it to its full potential.' And I concur with his remarks. The OECD is a pillar of the multilateral system. It makes positive differences in the lives and livelihoods of billions of people. Our citizens in our nations that we are here representing. 

The OECD's convention, agreed back in 1960, declares that economic strength and prosperity are essential to the preservation of individual liberty and the increase of general well-being. I want to pause on this point. For democracies around the world to demonstrate their effectiveness, they must demonstrate their effectiveness at home, in their own societies, in their own economies. Our economies are strong, but that only gives us the opportunities to ensure that our societies are strong. A strong society supported by social systems, on health services, education services, tolerance, respect for diversity, all of the things that go to making a successful, functional, liberal based democracy. All of this is enabled, made possible, only if it's built on a platform of a strong economy. Our economic model as market based economies, business led economies, is what enables social cohesion to be most successful. For social policy and supports to be most successful, for services that whether it's those who live with a disability or perhaps those who are in marginalised communities seeking access to services, particularly the elderly. In one of many ageing economies that sit around this table, our ability to be effective in improving the well-being and lives of all of our citizens depends first and foremost on our ability to ensure that our economies are strong. The dividend of a strong economy is a strong society, and that is the purpose for ensuring that we get our economic settings so right. So we need all nations, not only the 38 member countries of the OECD, to continue to strive to achieve these goals of stronger economies and our market based systems and to participate in a global system in ways that foster development cooperation, which the OECD provides the opportunity for. We bring our own distinctive perspective as Australians to these challenges, as we always do. But they are also based on principles and values that are shared with so many around this table. We share so many aspects of our national character with the character of those nations represented around this table. Our interests are inextricably linked to an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific region. That is our interest and a strategic balance in the region that favours freedom and allows us to be who we are. To make our Australian way as the many other nations of the Indo-Pacific seek to make their way, the Japanese way, the Indonesian way, the Malaysia way. All of these countries seeking to pursue their own objectives and national interests for the betterment of their own societies and to do so in a free and open Indo-Pacific consistent with respecting the national sovereignty of all nations. As the world grapples with a challenging set of circumstances, these values must be our guide. 

So the OECD has a big agenda and a lot of work ahead of it. Whether it's helping chart a course for business led economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic, or delivering cleaner, more sustainable and more inclusive growth, or supporting a free and fair trading system, or achieving a more equitable international taxation system, or seizing the opportunities of managing the risks of digital transformation, which both enables our economies, but also can present very serious risks at the same time. On all of these and more, the OECD's advocacy, expertise and evidence based analysis is absolutely critical. A source of truth in the room, a source of real facts in the room to guide the discussions and the decisions of leaders, which ever table we gather around. Whether it's the OECD table, the G20 table, the G7 table, whichever table it is, the work that the OECD does, puts the facts on the table to guide those discussions. The analysis that is done, incredibly important to ensure that evidence based decisions are what is guiding global economic policy. 

So this year marks the 60th anniversary of the OECD's founding and of course the world has changed considerably over that time, as Mathias has said, we also need to remember what makes us strong and resilient. So as to navigate the challenges of our time we should turn to what served us so well in the past, open and competitive markets. Trade, investment and innovation and of course liberal democratic norms and values. An international order where countries agree rules and stick to them, and abide by them. As I told Australians before I left, making the case for business led growth. Now, this has worked extremely well for Australia. Our recovery is like few others around the world, particularly as we come through this pandemic. Australia was only one of two countries who gathered together in Cornwall at the G7 Plus, together with the Republic of Korea that could point to an economy that is larger today than it was before the pandemic. Australia has more people employed today than there were before the pandemic hit. A v-shaped recovery, we have seen to be a reality in Australia. That is not something that we take for granted as we move forward. And that's why we will always be an advocate for the free and fair rules-based systems for international trade founded on open markets. Because we understand that Australia's prosperity rests squarely on maintaining our position as an outward looking, trading economy. To quote the former New Zealand Prime Minister, Bill English, we understand in our part of the world with economies of our size, that no one gets rich selling things to themselves. We have to engage with the rest of the world and economies like ours have always done that successfully. But it requires an integrated, fair rules-based system to engage in that trade and to be free from coercion that can occur. 

We will never overcome our present challenges by relinquishing these hard won lessons of the past. I'm pleased too, that the OECD is committed to strengthen its outreach in the Asia-Pacific. This region is at the centre of significant economic and geopolitical change, and it's in all of our interests that it recovers quickly from the pandemic and [inaudible] downturn. That it remains open, inclusive, secure and resilient. I had the pleasure of meeting with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee on my travels here last week. Singapore shares a commitment to open rules based international trade, and together we've been breaking new ground with the digital economy. This is one great example of the potential of the region. Last week I attended the G7 summit in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, and I again want to pass on my congratulations to the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Johnson for his excellent leadership of that forum. In fact, Australia was only one of four guest countries to attend the extension programme, together with India, South Africa and the Republic of Korea. And I took the opportunity to share there my perspective on those challenges, especially as they relate to the Indo-Pacific region. And we discussed how like minded countries can cooperate. And there were really four areas, and I'll finish on these. 

First of all, there is the necessity if we are to preserve a world order that favours freedom. I've often paraphrased Benjamin Franklin when speaking to the Republic of the United States, when asked what was achieved, a republic, if we can keep it. The same charge is there for liberal democracies and market based economies all around the world, a world that favours freedom, a world where business led growth is the driving model for economic prosperity, which enables liberty and improvement in social standards around the world. All of this is what the international system, supported by nations like Australia and all of those represented around this room today. Those values that underpin those institutions are so critical so that we have a world order that favours freedom, if we can keep it. And it is for us to do the work to ensure that we do, working together. So working together on strategic and defence issues is a natural association to that end. Working together in multilateral fora such as this to address very significant issues. Obviously the economy, the border and other forums to address COVID, to address climate change, to reinforce our economies, supply chains, critical supply chains that can be relied upon in good seasons and difficult seasons, and demonstrating in our own economies, in our own regions and more broadly the effectiveness of liberal, market-based democracies and economies to be able to deliver what our citizens are seeking.

On the issue of economic growth and business led economic growth, one of the most significant challenges we face in addition to the digital transformation and the many issues that come around that, is the new energy economy that the world will be moving to, and indeed already is moving to, over the next few years. A carbon neutral economy, a net zero economy when it comes to carbon emissions. This is the future. That is the reality. The issue of if and when, these are matters that have been determined around the world. So we must focus our attention on the how. The how is where Australia's mind is focused. How do we achieve that. But at the same time ensure that the jobs of those who work in our heavy industries who make things, making things that are necessary for the well-being of our peoples. Their material standards and their way of life. These things we have to be able to achieve and not sacrifice when it comes to moving towards a carbon neutral economy. We have the wits. We have the capabilities. We have the technological advances that enable us to solve this problem. As I said at the G7, to address COVID, we had to find a vaccine. It was obvious we had to find a vaccine. So the world set about finding not just one, but many vaccines and a vaccine that a year ago, no country, no scientist had ever found before. But it was done because there was a great global need to find that vaccine to ensure that we could take on this dreadful virus. I see climate change very similarly, it requires a technological solution. We all know what happens when technology intervenes in world energy markets. We've seen it with shale gas. We've seen it with many other transformational changes in the energy economy that have occurred on the basis of technology. It completely reorientates economic and political systems, the reliance of nations and their engagement with each other. To achieve a carbon neutral economy globally, regionally, domestically requires an unprecedented effort in focusing on the technological solves. Australians are very practical people, we tend to focus more on how to do it rather than talking about it. And that's what we need to address climate change. We need to focus on how to do it. Not just the need to do it. The need to do it, I think, is something that has got the level of acceptance necessary to go to that next stage. So it is the how that our economies need to focus on and invest our wealth in finding those solutions. In Australia, we are focusing heavily on a range of technologies, hydrogen in particular, and to make that work. But we've got to be specific about it. We need to get the cost of producing hydrogen down to $2 Australian or around about $1.50 US for this to have the transformational impact that is needed. And the reason I put that price on it, friends, is this. It's not good enough to reduce emissions in advanced economies. The Special Envoy from from the United States, former Secretary Kerry, I thought, put this incredibly well and I commend him for it, when he said at the outset of his mission; that the United States could reduce their emissions to zero, but if that is not achieved in the developing world, and he specifically mentioned China, then the goal of addressing climate change will not be achieved. Now, that is not a criticism of any developing economy. I want to stress this, because what it is a call to do is ensure that the solve that is in place for advanced economies on addressing climate change has to be the same in developing economies. Carbon emissions don't have national accents. They don't speak with that wonderful Irish lilt or an Australian twang. They're emissions. They don't understand borders. They don't have favourite cultural dishes, they are just emissions. And so it has to work everywhere if it's going to work anywhere. And that's why the technology has to perform at a cost that is real and competitive with the alternatives that the world is seeking to move away from. It has to work in India. It has to work in Vietnam. It has to work in Indonesia, as well as Australia, the United Kingdom, France or anywhere else. And that means we have to apply all of our effort to get the cost and scale of delivering those technologies on the ground in all of those places. Otherwise, we will fail. 

Australia has reduced our carbon emissions by 20 per cent since 2005. There are a lot of countries that sit around this table that cannot claim that. Australia has not only met our 2020 commitments, we beat them. We have set our Paris commitments and we will beat them as well. And we will invest all of our effort in ensuring that we get the technologies in place that will ensure that we can move to this new economy, that will not see regions forsaken, that will not see industry shut down, that will not see the cost of living for families in suburbs and towns and rural areas and cities across the world become unreachable because of the costs that have been imposed on them through going through this change. There is a better way and the better way is finding the technological solutions, and that is what we are committed to. Partnerships already agreed with Germany, Japan and Singapore. Shortly, the United Kingdom. I believe, also here in France as well, with a very good discussion I had with President Macron last night. Technology is the way through this. That's how it's done in market based economies. That's how we get it done in market based companies. And we allow our business sector, our innovators, our scientists, our researchers to be enabled and find those solutions, and then we scale them up and we solve the problem. So with those comments, Mathias, passionate perhaps, but that's the Australian way, isn't it? 

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43446

Press Conference - OECD Headquarters, France

16 June 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Well, good morning everyone. This has been an essential time for Australia to be bringing an Indo-Pacific perspective to some of the world’s most important like-minded forums. The G7, the OECD. But also to have direct engagement with some of Australia’s greatest and most important partners, both from a defence and security perspective but also from an economic perspective so the opportunity, whether it was to dine with President Macron last night and the night before with Prime Minister Johnson, the opportunity to engage directly with G7 leaders and the extension partners whether from our own region in the Republic of Korea, of course with Japan. But also importantly to have dialogue with South Africa, dialogue with the Italians, dialogue with the outgoing Chancellor in Germany who has played such an incredible role on the global stage for so long. This has been an essential time for Australia's voice to be heard and I have been incredibly encouraged by the very strong and steadfast support that Australia has received.

You've heard it from the world's leaders, understanding that the Indo-Pacific sits at the centre of some of the biggest challenges that the world faces. And to have an Australian voice that is speaking into the important forums that will play such an important role in how these issues are managed, has been incredibly important. For our own interests, for jobs, for security in Australia, but also more broadly for our partners. 

So it has been an invaluable time for us to be engaging in this way, to keep building those incredibly important relationships which ensure that Australia can be prosperous but also can be safe and secure and so I thank all of those I've had the opportunity to meet with in these past many days, from Singapore through to the G7 in the United Kingdom, here in France and of course the OECD today and to be here with Mathias Cormann as he begins his five-year term. We are incredibly proud of what Mathias is already doing here and this will ensure though with an independent voice now as the Secretary-General of the OECD now. That there is a voice here at the OECD at the most senior level that understands the Indo-Pacific. And that was one of the key issues that we promoted as part of the candidacy for Mathias Cormann. That it would enable a greater understanding of what was happening in the most dynamic and radically-changing part of the world that would have such a big impact on the economies of the world and indeed the global economy. And we are seeing that play out even as we speak as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and indeed continues to seek to move through that pandemic and the economic recession that it has caused around the world.

So there has never been a more important time to sit around these tables. I am looking forward to returning to Australia and of course the many challenges that we have there. But the opportunity to put Australia's position on so many issues, the technological challenges of climate change, the need to ensure defence and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, to ensure that we keep our free trade momentum around the world and it is not stymied or slowed. That important institutions like the OECD and the World Trade Organisation remain vibrant and remain effective, as they effectively ensure that the rules-based order can be effectively applied across the world. A world order that favours freedom is a world order that favours prosperity, one that favours security for all peoples around the world. Australia is a keen advocate for that and it has been a privilege to be able to make that case on Australia's behalf over the course of the past week.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how did your discussions go with President Macron around the submarine program and the cost of that?

PRIME MINISTER: It was a very positive discussion we had last night about a whole raft of issues and of course including the contract. We are coming up to important gates in that contract and there have been issues that we have had to address over particularly the last eight months and President Macron and I have a very, very open and very transparent, and very friendly relationship where we can speak candidly to each other about these issues. But what is most important is we understand the strategic imperative of our broader relationship, whether, we obviously have our relationship as it presents with that contract, but it is far bigger than that. We both have a shared interest in the strategic security of the Indo-Pacific. France is a partner in the south-west Pacific. We had the opportunity to discuss the south-west Pacific in some detail last night. Obviously with their long history, just like ours. So it was a good opportunity to swap notes on those issues and the many other things that we have both been engaging with over the past week.

JOURNALIST: Did you ask President Macron to take a greater hand in the subs contract and in your meeting with Naval Group, did that leave you with a sense that we do need a Plan B?

PRIME MINISTER: First of all I would say that President Macron has been taking a very active role. He and I have been discussing these issues for some time and he has an open invitation for he and I to raise issues that relate to this contract and we have, consistently. And I appreciate the direct role that he has played in ensuring that we've seen a much-improved position come forward from Naval over the last six months, but there is still a long way to go.

JOURNALIST: Is it true that Naval Group has a September deadline to submit the design work for the next two years and if the Government is not happy in September would you, will you walk away from the contract.

PRIME MINISTER: The Scope Two works, the master schedule, total costs, these are all the next steps. Contracts have gates and that's the next gate.

JOURNALIST: You’ve had some big support here over the past few days for Australia's difficulties in the Indo-Pacific, can you just talk about how significant you think this is? Do you feel there is a bit of a shift going on, a turning point moment, in how countries, in the thinking of other countries and how do you respond to people who say if Australia really wants to deal with the issues in the Indo-Pacific it will not get helpful, hugely helpful support if Europe, it should be forming its own coalition closer to your own backyard with countries like Indonesia?

PRIME MINISTER: In relation to the last point, I would say this is what Australia has always done. I'm here at the OECD where we're acknowledging 50 years of our participation but in ASEAN there has been no more enthusiastic and forward leaning and engaging partner with ASEAN than Australia. Our view of the Indo-Pacific is one that we see through the eyes of ASEAN. Their notion of a free and open Indo-Pacific is what we endorse. We see our role in enabling what ASEAN is seeking to achieve in the Indo-Pacific and within ASEAN there are countries of  many different formations, many different systems, and we work with them all and we share with ASEAN that ambition of a free and open Indo-Pacific because that is what is good for their sovereignty and their independence and ours. That is why we work so constructively together. The first place I went was Indonesia. That has now become the right of passage of any Prime Minister. It is Jakarta first when we engage beyond our own shores and we have done that and done that consistently. COVID has made that obviously more difficult over the course of the 18 months but I do look forward to being in Indonesia again, I do look forward to having President Widodo in Australia again as I know he would also. But across the region, that is why I was so keen to go to Singapore on the way here, because the last conversation I should have as we enter into these forums is to ensure that I am constantly refreshing with our Indo-Pacific regional partners, particularly within ASEAN, how they're seeing the situation because you talk about the great support we've had while I've been here. I think there is a growing awareness of the Indo-Pacific full stop. It is so much more a factor in both the considerations and assessments of Governments and not just strategically but economically as well, but also of the business community. My meetings yesterday with the business community here in France, there is a keen interest in understanding what is occurring in the Indo-Pacific, the implications for that but more importantly how positively we can make our way through, which remains our objective, always our objective. And so this trip has been a good opportunity to try and fuse together, to link together the understandings of the challenges in the Indo-Pacific as we see them heavily informed by our relationship with ASEAN partners with those of UK and Europe and indeed North America. And so that is what I believe is happening. And as that appreciation, as that understanding and that knowledge increases as I discussed with President Macron last night, then that greatly impacts and informs on the decisions they are making. I said last night it was only in May that we sailed through the South China Sea together with the French. German ships are doing similar things. This is simply, just to demonstrate a keen interest in the stability of the region and I think this is positive. I think it creates stability and on the platform of stability is the prosperity that flows.

JOURNALIST: Are you leaving Paris more, or less confident about the subs program?

PRIME MINISTER: I leave knowing that we have properly raised the challenges that we need to address, and so it is now for us to work forward on that basis.

JOURNALIST: Do we need to do something different as well, or is it all the French?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, they’re, it’s their contract, that is Naval Group, and like with any contract I would expect them to be able to deliver on that. And what is most important at the end of the day though is the capability we’re looking to establish. We can get very focused obviously on contracts, as we should, as we absolutely should, on value for money and the performance of the contract and the building up of our workforce, and that remains a challenge for us which we need to keep working on, and that is a constant focus of our Government. But at the end of the day, what matters most for France, for Australia, for the United Kingdom, the United States, for Indonesia, for Malaysia, Singapore - all of us who have a keen interest - Japan who I must acknowledge as being the most steadfast partner in Japan that we could ever hope for in our region. All of this depends on the capability and the effect that is produced from our combined efforts. That is the goal. That is what matters above all else.

JOURNALIST: The Government helped Mathias Cormann become Secretary-General here. I mean, has Australia's success in that race emboldened you to maybe put up more candidates for other international posts? Would you even consider running someone for the UN Secretary-General position, obviously not Kevin Rudd?

PRIME MINISTER: Some years ago I remarked and gave a speech at the Lowy Institute and I talked about globalism. I also talked about positive globalism, not just negative globalism, because it can go both ways if it’s not managed properly. And that was the point I was making. And for it to go in a positive direction is when you have a rules-based order which is functional and efficient and is being implemented across all economies, whether it’s at the WTO or the ITU, or any of these bodies. All of these bodies, whether we like that or not, and we like it more often than we don't, we need to ensure that across our partners that we are collaborating well. Now, in this case it was the right decision for Australia to put forward a candidate for the OECD, just like with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization where we’ve also just been successful. Now, that has been something where Australia believes it can make a difference and make an effort. Whether it’s the ITU, the United States has a very good candidate. So it really is about where best and who best and what ensures that the standard setting and the operation of the rules-based order works most effectively. Mathias Cormann being the Secretary-General of the OECD is not a statement of Australia's ambition, it is a statement of Australia's contribution. And we will make a contribution where we think it, where it best assists that broader international effort and Australia's international interests. So, you know, these aren't a set of competitions and prizes. They are practical, important jobs and we just need to have the best people in them, and Australia will always back having the best people in them that favours a world order that favours freedom. Thank you very much.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43445

Remarks, Elysee Palace - Paris, France

15 June 2021

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PRIME MINISTER:

M. President, Your Excellencies,

It’s a great pleasure for me to be here with you in this wonderful place.

Liberty and affinity. The first of these words is something that the French know much about. No one understands liberty more than the French. Affinity is the word we use to describe our partnership. An affinity across so many different areas of the relationship that you’ve just heard Emmanuel speak of, on everything from countering terrorism to our partnership in the Indo-pacific where in recent times we have sailed together, just in these last few weeks, through the South China Sea together. Every element of our partnership is about reinforcing the values and the beliefs that we hold dearly.

And Emmanuel I want to particularly thank you for your leadership on so many of these issues. I’ve just joined you again for the G7 when several years ago you kindly invited Jenny and I to be part of the Biarritz G7, which was another wonderful occasion. But since that time the world has changed dramatically and your leadership through this time, not only here of course, in France, but across Europe, amongst the G7 community and far beyond that. I’ve had the good fortune to see it at close order. The way France responded to the Christchurch massacre, your immediate stepping in together with New Zealand, part of our family, and to get behind and drive the Christchurch call.

The work that you’ve done in supporting and standing with Australia, as you’ve just mentioned, as we go through some difficult times in the Indo-pacific. And we greatly appreciate that. The leadership you are showing on combatting climate change, but practical, practically addressing the challenges of technology that are necessary to ensure that not only is a carbon neutral economy achieved in advanced economies, but importantly that it’s achieved in developing economies. And for that to occur it requires the technology that makes it achievable for them.

These are all things that I hear your President speak of at every occasion when we gather. And he speaks passionately and forcefully because it comes from the heart and it comes from belief. And that is a very easy thing for passionate Australians to connect with, with Emmanuel Macron. And so I’m looking forward to the discussions that we have tonight Emmanuel, across so many of these areas which you’ve already outlined.

A couple of words, particular thanks to not just on the work that you’ve done on the Christchurch call, which I know is dear to your heart. I also want to thank you for the way that you engaged in Australia during the terrible explosion that occurred in Beirut. While we were all dealing with so many other issues, with COVID and the challenges in our economy, France acted very quickly and I appreciate the way that you included Australia in that response and kept us informed because we have so many Australians with Lebanese background, and so many Australians who were in Lebanon at the time.

So we are good friends, we are good partners, we share common goals and we share common values and that’s why our partnership with liberty and affinity I think is one that we’ll be able to progress further this evening.

So thank you very much, Emmanuel. I’m sorry Jenny couldn’t be here on this occasion, but she sends her best to you and Brigitte and I look forward to our what will be friendly discussions no doubt tonight.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43444

Press Conference - 10 Downing Street, London, United Kingdom

15 June 2021

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THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Good morning, everybody. Thank you very much for joining us, and I'm absolutely delighted to welcome my friend Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, to Number 10. Well, we've been having in the last couple of days, and Scott was also of course in Carbis Bay for the G7, we’ve been talking a lot about our partnership, our relationship, which is, as you can imagine, intensifying, between Australia and the UK. We’ve talked just now, we talked a lot about what we’re doing together on defence, working together on our security, which share common perspectives, what the UK is doing to open up and expand our diplomatic presence in the Pacific. And I remind you that we’re [inaudible], the Union Flag is going up in six high commissions in Port Vila in Vanuatu, in Apia in Samoa, [inaudible] and Tonga. We talked about climate change and the shared ambition we have to have a fantastic COP26 summit in November to reduce global emissions, the cleantech partnership that we’re working on. We talked about the Rugby World Cup, we talked about also the Rugby League World Cup, and all sorts of things.

But of course we came to a conclusion of a long-running negotiation on a free trade agreement between the UK and Australia, and even before we began negotiations you will recollect that the volume of trade, the exports between our countries, have been quite extraordinary. We already sell cars, we sell whisky, I’m proud to say to Australia, we sell boomerangs to Australia, of the non-returnable variety. And now, thanks to this deal, we hope that there will be even more trade between the UK and Australia, and the broad outlines of the deal, as you can imagine, is that you give us Tim Tams, we give you Penguins, you give us Vegemite and we give you Marmite. We give you Burberry and Mackintoshes, and you give us RM Williams Japaras. And the idea is that we’ll be able to do even more because we’re taking tariffs off.  So for Northern Ireland, Northern Irish machine tools, this will be good news. It will be good news for British car manufacturers, it would be good news for British services, for British financial services. And it will be good news for, I hope, for agricultural sector on both sides.

And here we’ve had to negotiate very hard. And I want everybody to understand that this is a sensitive sector for both sides, and we've got a deal that runs over 15 years and contains the strongest possible provisions for animal welfare. But I think it is a good deal, and it’s one that, I think, will benefit British farmers and British consumers as well. And also, it will mean that it will make it easier for British people, for young people to go and work in Australia without, I think, having the traditional compulsion of having to go and work on a farm for 80 days, which used to be the rule. I think they, at one point wanted to extend it to 90 days, but that turned out to be the wrong approach to the negotiations. Anyway, but we've got rid of that, we’ve got rid of that. Young people, any people can go and work much more easily in Australia, both ways. There’ll be free exchange of British rent-a-Poms and indeed Australian campaign managers will be able to come more easily to work in this country.

And I think it’s, but more importantly perhaps than all of that, this is the first freestanding free trade deal that the UK has done since Brexit, and it’s also, therefore, a prelude to further deals, and it’s the way in to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, the CPTPP, and Liz Truss, our wonderful Trade Secretary, has been working on that for a very long time and I just want to conclude by thanking Liz and her teams, and all your team, for Mr Tehan, as well, for everything that you have done. I congratulate negotiators on both sides on what I think is a good deal for Britain and a good deal for Australia. So thank you very much Scott. Great to see you.

THE HON. SCOTT MORRISON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Well, thank you, Boris. Thank you very much for the invitation to be here today. And can I congratulate you on the G7 Plus, or the D11 as we sometimes call it, and for your leadership of that summit, which really brought together the leaders of the world's biggest advanced economies and liberal democracies, and the esprit de corps that you were able to establish right across the leadership group, and for us to get around the fundamental principles of what we believe in as liberal democracies. I want to commend you for that and we were very pleased to be part of those very important set of discussions that we had in Carbis Bay.

In addition to that, I’d simply note the framework for the trade agreement that we’ve been able to agree here is within the foundation, on the foundation, I’d say, of this broader partnership that Australia and the United Kingdom enjoy. This is a foundational partnership for Australia, as it is for the UK. And everything else we do stems from that relationship. Our cooperation on defence, on strategic issues, our cooperation on science and research, in dealing with technology challenges, to combat climate change, and indeed the economic relationship. Our economies are stronger by these agreements. This is the most comprehensive and ambitious agreement that Australia has concluded. The only one which comes into close connection with that is the arrangement we have with New Zealand under the Closer Economic Relationship arrangements we have there. The movement of people, movement of goods, movement of services - this is what underpins the strength of advanced economies and liberal democracies.

And of course there are sensitive areas, and this being the first of the agreements the United Kingdom has put in place, and is putting in place, does then open the pathway to entry into the CPTPP from Australia's perspective, and we will be a champion for that because we want to see the UK making the CPTPP even stronger than it is now. It’s an outstanding arrangement. It’s the most modern multilateral trade agreement in the world today, and to have the United Kingdom as part of that strengthens it, and that’s why we were so keen to come to this arrangement today.

The Prime Minister has mentioned the many issues that we’ve discussed. One other I’d add to that list was mental health, and particularly mental health of young people. In Australia we have an extraordinary program that supports young people with mental health and we’re very keen to work with the UK Government to share that experience, working together on dealing with large multinational media platforms as well. That was a topic of keen discussion and the work that Australia has been doing there, and of course the clean energy technology partnership which we are in the process of finalising as well. Across, whether it’s on beef and sugar, and sheep meat for Australia, which is very important, and we appreciate the very constructive discussions we’ve had and negotiations to complete what is the right deal. I said we would wait for the right deal, Boris, and I think we've got the right deal between UK and Australia. And that just lays the foundation further for the bigger partnership we have on everything from defence to climate change and to deal with the many other big global challenges that liberal democracies face together, and always, UK and Australia will face those together.

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Thanks very much, Scott. Let's go quickly to the media. We have Shehab of ITV, then Bevan from The Sydney Morning Herald. 

JOURNALIST: My first question is to you, Mr Johnson. You’ll be aware of the concerns that British farmers have had about this deal. Have you sold them out by reaching this agreement, or are there safeguards in place to stop British farmers being undercut by cheap imports?

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: There are indeed safeguards. And this goes, there is a 15-year transition period, which is a long time to wait for, if you can imagine, our friends in Australia. The UK joined what was then the Common Market in 1973, and I have to tell you that that was pretty devastating for a lot of farmers in Australia. They committed suicide, some of them, in the face of what happened to Australian agriculture in the 70s when the UK went into the, what was then the Common Market. So we’re opening up to Australia, but we’re doing it in a staggered way and we’re doing it over 15 years. We’re retaining safeguards and making sure that we have protections against sudden influxes of goods, and also making sure that we adhere to the strongest possible standards for animal welfare and, as you can imagine, that’s what the British consumer is going to want.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Morrison, a question for you. As you mentioned, this is the first deal the United Kingdom has negotiated from scratch since leaving the European Union. Why do you think Australia is the country that’s happened with, did your personal relationship with Prime Minister Johnson aid with that? And on top of that, will you be making Australian farmers increase their standards to reach UK standards?

THE HON. SCOTT MORRISON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Australian standards are very high, and we’re well-respected for our standards for animal welfare all around the world. And so we are very confident and very proud of our record when it comes to dealing with animal behaviour, animal cruelty. And, so we set standards in those places. The second point I’d make is, yes, of course, I mean, of course it assists when there is an easy and comfortable relationship between leaders to get through what is often the final stages of these discussions, and it’s the relationship I think that always enables you to overcome any of those last items that need to be resolved in good faith, because, you know, these agreements are based on trust. You have them when you have shared values and you understand what both countries are seeking to achieve in a partnership, and that’s what this is fundamentally about. This is just another very big chapter in the story of Australia and the United Kingdom. And so, you know, that is why I think Australia was the right choice for the United Kingdom to be the first to enter into such an agreement, because if you can do an agreement with your best friends first, then you can have the confidence to be able to deal with the issues that flow from these agreements. We understand, particularly for our agricultural sectors, in both countries, that we will have to demonstrate the real benefits for both countries, and we’ll do that together, to British producers as well as Australian producers, and so that’s what friends do.

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Thanks very much Shehab. Let's go to Bevan, Sydney Morning Herald.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Johnson, thanks for your time. You’re ambitious on climate change, and so were G7 leaders at the weekend. The Australian commitment is to cut emissions by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030. Can you tell us, I mean, is that enough? Do you think that’s enough? And should Australians commit to do more before COP26? And Prime Minister Morrison, just exactly how many more Australians will be able to live and work in the UK as a result of this deal, and are there any …

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: How many more?

JOURNALIST: Are there any mechanisms in there …

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Any limits?

JOURNALIST: … to prevent some sort of brain drain of highly-skilled workers coming over here?

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Ah, okay. Well, thank you very much, Bevan. Look, on the climate change ambitions of Australia, I think that Scott has declared for net zero by 2050 …

JOURNALIST: Preferably.

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: … which is a great step forward when you consider the, you know, the situation Australia is in. It’s a massive coal producer. It’s having to change the way things are orientated, and everybody understands that. You can do it fast. When I was, in 2012 this country had 40 per cent of its power from coal. It’s now less than two per cent, going down the whole time. So it can happen fast. And I’m impressed by the ambition of Australia. Obviously we’re going to be looking for more the whole time, as we go into COP26 in November. But we want to work with Scott, with Australia, on the cleantech solutions. Because I think what we both strongly believe is that you can have a green industrial revolution that drives high wage, high-skilled jobs. You can do both. And that’s what we’re going to work on together.

THE HON. SCOTT MORRISON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Look, on the other issue, I mean that, it will be totally demand driven, ultimately, as it is now, as people move between the countries. It’s a very easy arrangement currently, prior to COVID, the way visas are issued, going between both countries. There is a great opportunity, though, for young people from both United Kingdom and Australia to move and operate and work in different countries. That builds the capacity, I think, in both countries, with that easy engagement. I mean, collaboration is so critical in so many fields, and a shared experience of each other's societies and economies is a good thing. So we go onto this boldly and confidently, and it’s a great opportunity for people of both countries. It’s been happening for a very long time …

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: It has.

THE HON. SCOTT MORRISON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: And now it will continue, and in Australia it means that we’ll be moving forward on an agricultural visa as well. That is something that I’ve had a positive view on for some time, we look forward to that occurring, and that will provide other opportunities when it comes to our agricultural workforce. One of the biggest challenges we have, particularly in COVID, is when there's such restriction on movements of people. We need to meet those workforce challenges to ensure our primary producers, in particular, can make the most of the linear agreement we’ve agreed here today.

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Yeah, and I can just say, you know, I’m the personally the beneficiary of Australian willingness to welcome young people to Australia. And I know that this whole country benefits from having Australians come to the UK. So, you know, I think there will be a healthy flow, but I don't think you need to worry about, you know, a brain drain either way. I think you’ve got …

THE HON. SCOTT MORRISON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Brain gain for both.

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Brain gain, that's right. Thank you. Well done, Scott. Okay, Ted from …

JOURNALIST: Yes, hello.

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Ted, where, I can’t remember which your …

JOURNALIST: PA.

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: PA, Ted, sorry.

JOURNALIST: Yes. Prime Minister, how important would you say this deal is for the UK considering first post-Brexit?

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Look, I think that this is important economically, there's no question about that. I'm not going to exaggerate the overall increase in our respective GDPs that will flow from this. But I think it's more important politically and symbolically. We’re opening up to each other. And this is the prelude to a general campaign of opening up around the world. Free trade, who's been in the doldrums for 20 years. Countries have not been campaigning for free trade. You have here these two governments, people who actually believe that you will eradicate world poverty or do more to eradicate world poverty, lift standards of living around the world, raise aspiration by free trade, than by almost anything else. That is the, that is what history teaches us. And that's why I think this is an important deal.

THE HON. SCOTT MORRISON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: I commend the UK, because the UK is confidently moving forward. This is an ambitious free trade agreement. This is not a standard cookie cutter agreement. This is an agreement with great ambition for both countries. And it shows, I think, a great deal of confidence on the UK’s part as they move into a very different and new area of engaging with free trade and championing around the world, for countries like Australia.

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Terrific. Thanks. Andrew Clennell.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Johnson, you appear to have hardened your views on China and that's been reflected at the G7. We've seen the British naval missions through the South China Sea. What offends you most about China's behaviour, and can you see the difficulties Australia has with dealing with this, in terms of the fact 40 per cent of our exports go to China?

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: I can see that, Andrew, very clearly. You know, just look at the, I looked at the numbers. I think, $175 billion, I think is Australia's trade with China. I think Australia's trade with the UK is currently in the order of $15 billion. So it's like you can see the, you can see the difference in the scale [inaudible] second figure very, very substantially as a result of what we're doing. But, you know, the, if you ask me what do I find difficult about the way China behaves, you know, it's very obvious. And it was clear at the G7, clear at NATO yesterday. I think people are worried about what's happening to the Uighurs, they’re worried about the general repressions of liberties in Hong Kong, and some of the ways China behaves in its region, and it actually behaves particularly towards Australia. So we stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends. But I think I probably speak for Scott as well when I say nobody wants to descend into a new Cold War with China. We don't see that as the, that as the way forward. This is a difficult relationship where it is vital to engage with China in as positive a way as we can. But where there are difficulties, which there evidently are, it's vital that allies - UK, Australia - work together, and that's one of the reasons why we're sending the, you know, sending the carrier strike group out your way.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister.

THE HON. SCOTT MORRISON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: This agreement is enormously helpful to Australia in the context that you raise. I mean, where you have challenges with one trading partner from time to time, then the ability to be able to diversify your trade into more and more countries is incredibly important. And I genuinely appreciate the way that the UK have engaged in this agreement because it reflects an understanding of that. And so this provides more opportunities and greater resilience for Australia's exporters all around the world. We have been very successful in concluding free trade agreements, which now represent the overwhelming majority of our two-way trade all around the world. That provides further resilience and greater protection for our exporters. And this agreement adds to that resilience at a time when I know Australians and Australian exporters are keenly looking for those opportunities. So we appreciate the spirit in which this deal has been done, not just its content and not just its good faith.

THE RT HON BORIS JOHNSON MP, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Great stuff, everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43443

Address, Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (Appea) Conference

15 June 2021

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Prime Minister: Welcome, everyone, to this important APPEA Conference.

During the most challenging year in three quarters of a century, Australia's oil and gas exploration and production industry has really stepped up. You faced and accepted the challenge of ensuring the health and safety of your people and at the same time kept our vital supply lines open, driving our economy forward. This effort has been critical to our strong national response here in Australia, and I want to thank all of you for your efforts.

The oil and gas sector is a major contributor to Australia's prosperity - always has, will always be - employing tens of thousands of women and men across the country, many of them in high wage jobs in regional Australia, creating stronger, more resilient local communities.

And that has never been more important. As we work together - government, industry and each and every Australian - to secure our economic recovery, I want you to know we're backing you in to stay on top as one of the world's leading exporters of LNG. And with a plan here in Australia that sees gas as key - the key to secure, reliable and affordable energy in a transitioning energy market, moving to a new energy economy, and to supporting jobs in those energy intensive industries that are the lifeblood of our economy, especially in regional Australia. It's vital to Australian industry. Industry that will underwrite our economic fortunes for generations to come.

I know there is a new energy economy coming and we need to be ready for it, we need to be part of it and we will be successful in it. We need to make sure that Australia succeeds. But that will not come at the cost of our heavy and manufacturing industries. It will not come through higher taxes. It will come through technology and innovation and the entrepreneurship of our industry leaders, through supporting Australia's resources sector to explore the future. That's how we make our way.

In Australia, we will lead the world in these heavy industry and oil and gas sectors to ensure that we can reduce emissions, be a successful part of the new energy economy and secure Australia's prosperity all at the same time. We can do it here, you can do it anywhere. That will be the leadership that Australia provides to the world when it comes to moving into this new energy economy.

I wish you all the very best for this important conference.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43442

Address to the Australia-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce London, UK

14 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43441

Press Conference - Newquay Airport, United Kingdom

13 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43440

Remarks, Bilateral Meeting with He Moon Jae-In, President of the Republic of Korea

12 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43449

Press Conference - G7 Carbis Bay, United Kingdom

12 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43437

Press Conference - Commonwealth War Graves St Illogan, United Kingdom

12 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43436

Press Conference - RAF Brize Norton, United Kingdom

11 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43435

Press Conference - The Istana, Singapore

11 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43433

Address, Perth USAsia Centre - Perth, WA

‘A World Order that Favours Freedom’

9 June 2021

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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:

1. Supporting open societies, open economies and our rules-based order;

2. Building sovereign capacity, capability and resilience;

3. Cooperating on global challenges;

4. Enabling renewed business-led growth and development, and

5. 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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43429

Press Conference - Sydney CPO, NSW

8 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43427

Press Conference - North Richmond, NSW

7 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43426

Press Conference - Canberra, ACT

4 June 2021

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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.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43423