Press Conference - Canberra, ACT

25 July 2021

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Prime Minister: Well, a magnificent, a magnificent effort in the pool. Our golden queens of the pool have taken the four by 100 [metre] women’s relay, and it was daylight second, taking the silver. It was an extraordinary performance from Meg Harris, Emma McKeon, Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell as they absolutely blitzed the field, and I think that's really lifted the spirits of Australians right across the country today. But, a special shout out too to Mollie Callaghan and Madi Wilson who did the hard work in the heats, as well, building up to that final. So, a truly tremendous Olympic moment for Australia and I think something that Australians are celebrating all around the country. Also, congratulations to Jack McLoughlin taking that silver, he was joined by Elijah Winnington in the final, and Brendan Smith picking up that bronze earlier today as well. Hopefully, there'll be many more in the pool and so many other areas where Australians are competing. But, that four by 100 [metre], that's quite a way to bring in your first gold medal at the Olympics in Tokyo, and it's tremendously exciting.

Can I make a number of announcements and updates, and then happy to take questions. First of all, as has already been announced by statement earlier today, 85 million doses for boosters for 2022 and 2023 have been secured in a new contract put together with Pfizer. That’s 60 million for boosters next year in 2022 and 25 million for the year after. This is in addition, of course, to the 40 million doses that are doing the job of the vaccination this year, combined with our AstraZeneca vaccines, which have been produced here within Australia, and the 10 million Moderna vaccines that come on stream from September of this year. There is, of course, the 51 million of Novavax, which is also pre-ordered, as well.

Now, once we achieve that broad vaccination of the population and once we're able to proceed through the four stage plan that I updated you on on Friday, then we must be able to maintain them and the advice at present is that is likely to require booster shots, and to be able to have those booster shots pre-ordered by contract now means that we can go into 2022 with confidence, and beyond, ensuring that we're able to address those needs, future proofing so we can live with COVID-19 going forward. The securing of those 85 million doses is a, is another important development. It's another shot in the arm for Australians in the vaccination program. The vaccination program really starting to hit its marks now and beyond. We can go in next year with greater confidence. The supplies will be provided over the course of the year to meet any of those booster requirements, as we're advised to need to put in place.

Secondly, on the vaccine, a record Saturday yesterday, more than 100,000 doses delivered yesterday. That brings it to 11.14 million. We have 38 per cent of the population now that has had at least one dose, over 16 per cent now with two. Sixty two per cent of those over 50 have now had one dose and 22 per cent double doses. And, for those over 70, we've got 77 per cent of those over 70 have now had their first dose, and 37 per cent have had two doses. In the past just six days, we've been able to administer a million doses. So, we're now able to deliver those a million doses even under a seven-day period, and that is really hitting the marks that we'd hoped to be hitting with that rate of vaccination now. Certainly, we hoped to have higher overall levels of vaccination now, as I indicated earlier this week, but the vaccination rates we're achieving on a weekly and a daily basis are certainly the marks we’d hoped to be hitting by about this time of the year. And, that means we will continue to make up ground.

I want to welcome the updated ATAGI advice that was provided, and you became aware of that, that was on the 24th of July, and I just want to read it so it's very clear what ATAGI are saying. And, it relates especially to the New South Wales outbreak. All individuals aged 18 years and above in greater Sydney, including adults under 60 years of age, should strongly consider getting vaccinated with any available vaccine, including COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca. This is on the basis of the increasing risk of COVID-19 and ongoing constraints of Pfizer supplies. In addition, people in areas where outbreaks are occurring can receive the second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine four to eight weeks after the first dose, rather than the usual 12 doses [sic], to bring forward optimal protection. And, so, having those vaccines is incredibly important. I welcome that advice. There are some 1.3 million AstraZeneca vaccines that are available. They’re in the fridge, they're ready to go, and we particularly need to see them getting into state-based distribution systems in New South Wales. The GPs in New South Wales have been doing a terrific job. They've been doing all the heavy lifting on AstraZeneca, especially in New South Wales, and they'll soon be joined by the pharmacists as well, so we can start lifting those vaccination rates even further.

There have been some enquiries regarding the availability and supply of New South Wales vaccines, especially in relation to Pfizer. So, let me clarify the situation. On the week commencing 5th of July, which is the week in which the Premier contacted me, New South Wales - both GPs and the state distribution centres - were receiving 147,720 doses of Pfizer per week. The week commencing next week, they will be receiving 90,000 more than that, 90,000 more than that. That does not include the additional 50,000, which I extended to the Premier on Friday, or the additional 150,000 they've already received over and above their previous allocations. Their allocations going forward into this next week is 90,000 more Pfizer each week than it was back in the week commencing the 5th of July, and in the week following, it goes up to 110,000 above what it was back in the beginning of July and the week commencing the 5th of July. So, that is a significant increase that we've seen since the early part of this month to where we are now. So, there was the 50,000 extra last Friday on top of allocations, there was the 150,000 additional that was provided after the Premier's call to me on the 5th of July, on the 7th of July. And, the Pfizer allocations now ramping up by a further 90,000 on what they were getting earlier, and that is predominantly being distributed through the GP network, which has been doing the lion's share of vaccinations all around the country.

I also want to note some progress on the Federal Government supports regarding income support payments, especially to New South Wales - $331 million has now been paid out in New South Wales in income support payments, of the $600 and the $375 and the earlier payments since the lockdown began, and that is some 660,000 grants that Service Australia had been able to process in that time, and has supported 394,000 individuals across New South Wales. Now, that is quite a herculean effort by Services Australia to get that much money out the door that fast, at the JobKeeper rates of December quarter last year, and getting those payments right across the board to those who've lost their hours.

Now, we anticipate, based on the current registrations for the scheme, and this may increase, that that will mean that the Federal Government will be providing income support into New South Wales at a rate of $220 million every single week to support those income support payments. Ninety seven per cent of that is actually in the Greater Sydney area. So, Greater Sydney, New South Wales more broadly, is receiving, will be receiving some $220 million ongoing each and every week to help them through this lockdown, to support the lockdown by ensuring people stay at home.

Now, in addition to that, you're already aware that the Commonwealth Government has committed some quarter of a billion dollars a week to support the 50-50 business support program, which is being administered by the New South Wales Government. So, that puts us in the vicinity of half a billion dollars a week from the Commonwealth Government to be supporting and backing in the New South Wales Government in both income support and business support to get through this crisis.

In Victoria, I can tell you that since applications opened on Friday, 52,000 claims have so far been granted, just under $30 million is already out the door to support people across New, across Victoria. And, that has been paid since last Friday's applications, and processing continues today and we expect those numbers to rise further, and we’ll provide further updates to that end.

So, a golden day in the pool. In terms of vaccines, what we've seen is another record day yesterday, and in terms of support that is needed in New South Wales, continuing to deliver that support for as long as this lockdown takes, because that is the primary method by which we will be able to get this latest outbreak under control.

Finally, let me just say I extend my commiserations and sympathies to those families of the two individuals that have lost their lives to COVID. Every single time that occurs, it is a terrible tragedy. And, that's why I urge people to go and get that AstraZeneca vaccine, get the Pfizer vaccine, and ensure that we continue to meet these marks and protect the population.

Journalist: So, the extra 50,000 Pfizer doses that you found for New South Wales, can you tell us where has that come from? Is there a federal contingency? And, if so, how much is in that contingency? And, just secondly, we've accessed COVAX, the facility before, to get more Pfizer. Is that another option that you're considering to get more doses here?

Prime Minister: Well, on the latter point, we're always maximising every possible channel to get as many vaccines as we can, particularly in the next few months. Once we get into September, then the supplies are significantly greater than they are now. But, let's not forget, there are now a million Pfizers turning up every week, a million Pfizer doses now turning up every week, which is what has enabled us to be able to lift the levels of supply that are going into all states and territories, but particularly New South Wales. There are small variations in supply and delivery, which from time to time may ensure that there's tens of thousands of doses that might be free at any given time. That is a simple supply and demand issue. It is not a contingency. We are distributing as far as we possibly can every single dose we have, every single dose we have. And, and that's what we've been doing here. We had planned to increase the dosages going out to all states and territories, including New South Wales. So, there is that 90,000 extra from this week coming that is going into New South Wales. And, in addition to that, there is the 200,000 additional doses that have been made available to them over the course of this month.

Journalist: Prime Minister, the New South Wales Treasurer has warned today that people are in danger of falling through the cracks, particularly those on income support who aren't eligible for the COVID Disaster Payments. There was a COVID Supplement in place last, in last, place last year. That's no longer the case. Is there any consideration of further financial support for people who don't qualify for these payments under consideration? 

Prime Minister: Well, the qualification for these payments is extremely broad. You can be a casual, you can be part time, you can be full time. It doesn't matter who you work for. It doesn't matter who owns the company. It doesn't matter what's happening to the national turnover of your company. The Treasurer made a very good point today - under JobKeeper there would be people in New South Wales who wouldn't be getting these payments because their overall turnover of the company, which operates across many borders, would have seen them not be eligible. What the process we're doing is we've cut out the, the middle person on this and we're making payments direct. If you've lost those hours and you're not receiving other social security benefits, and those social security benefits are scaled to your income. So, if your other income has fallen back, then the income you get through JobSeeker and things like that scales up. Now, these arrangements have been designed to deal with the problem we have right now. And, the problem we have right now is in specific states, in specific locations, and we need to be able to get it out quickly and switch it on quickly. And, so, that's what this is delivering. And, it's delivering those supports and payments far quicker than, in fact, we were able to achieve under JobKeeper. And, that's very important when you're facing a lockdown of an indeterminate length. Now, I'm, I welcome the fact that the situation in Victoria and in South Australia seems to be improving to expectations. And, we'll wait to see what further announcements are made by the premiers there. But, in New South Wales, as I said, half a billion dollars a week, half a billion. And, and the Treasurer and I and the rest of the Cabinet are very open to consider how we deal with this situation as it further evolves. That's always been the approach my Government has taken. We've always kept our minds open and tried to address the need that is there, and that's what we'll continue to do. But, the COVID Disaster Payments, they're faster, they're direct, and you get them when you need them. Had we been working under the other arrangements, people would have been waiting some time before they were able to get that support. So, it's been a very effective mechanism, as the numbers that I've outlined to you, I think, demonstrate.

Journalist: Prime Minister, on your, on the anti-lockdown protests yesterday, your Coalition colleague George Christensen promoted and was at one of them in Queensland. Former Coalition colleague Craig Kelly supported these lockdowns, these protests, I'm sorry. What would be your message to those people who went to these protests yesterday? And, is there any explanation, any excuse for a federal politician to support these sort of demonstrations?

Prime Minister: Well, I’ll deal with the second issue later, in a second, let me deal with what we saw in Sydney yesterday. Of course, it was selfish. It was also self-defeating. It achieves no purpose. It will not end the lockdown sooner, it will only risk the lockdowns running further. Now, there was 100,000 people who went and did the right thing yesterday and got tested in New South Wales. There were 40,000 people who went and got vaccinated, both at state and GP-based distribution points of presence. There were millions of Sydneysiders who stayed home. They're the ones who are bringing an end to the lockdown sooner, not those who are putting themselves at risk, those around them at risk, particularly the police at risk. And, that was a very selfish act. And, I think it offended many, many fellow Sydneysiders. People understand there are frustrations with lockdowns, but that type of behaviour doesn't help anybody. Selfish behaviour doesn't help anybody. And, so, in a city under lockdown, to engage in that was reckless and it was selfish.

Now, as for other parts of the country that aren't in lockdown, well, there is such a thing as free speech, and I'm not about to be imposing those sorts of restrictions on people's free speech. In Queensland, there are not lockdowns, and the nature of that event, to the best of my knowledge, that, the one you referred to, was very different to the event that was in New South Wales. And, I think to draw a comparison between the two, I think would be, would be not be accurate. So, and in terms of other members who are not in my Party Room, they can explain their own actions.

Journalist: On the changing ATAGI advice, can you please clarify something for me?

Prime Minister: Yep.

Journalist: Will giving the AstraZeneca jab to anyone over the age of 18 still be at the discretion of the GPs in Sydney? We are seeing reports over time that doctors are not giving it out to adults under 40 that are still consenting to getting that jab. Does this change that? 

Prime Minister: Well, I certainly hope that the GPs would be very mindful of the ATAGI advice, and I think they've been a lot clearer, which is very welcome, about the nature of the risk in New South Wales and in Greater Sydney, in particular. And, I'm sure that medical professionals would be very conscious, I think, of the advice that has been provided by ATAGI. At the end of the day, it's the individual who makes the choice and provides the informed consent. And, that individual should feel free to go to another general practitioner. And, I hope that we can now see more AstraZeneca vaccines are made available in the state-based clinics in New South Wales, so they might be able to go and get that opportunity there, which has been very constrained over, over recent months. GPs have been the ones delivering AstraZeneca. And, so, I'm looking forward to seeing, particularly with the comments of the Premier and and the Chief Health Officer in New South Wales, a much greater distribution of AstraZeneca through those state-based clinics.

Journalist: The New South Wales Premier I'm sure is well aware of those numbers you've outlined in terms of vaccines going to her state. She still wants other states to provide more Pfizer or do more for her state. How much worse do things need to get in Sydney, south western Sydney in particular, before you're willing to say we need to rush vaccines there? 

Prime Minister: Well, there's a presumption in the question, and that is about how this lockdown comes to an end. The lockdown comes to an end by the lockdown effectively working. There's not an easy way to bring these cases down. And, it's the lockdown that does that work. The vaccines can provide some assistance, but they are not going to end this lockdown. What's going to end this lockdown is it being effective, and it being effectively put in place and complied with. That's the experience from the other states and territories. What we have is increasing rates of Pfizer supplies and AstraZeneca that is available to all states and territories, including in New South Wales. As I've said, there'll be, by the week commencing the 2nd of August, 100,000 more Pfizer vaccines going into New South Wales every week, and 90,000 more from this week. And, on top of that, 200,000 has already been provided to support those efforts. So, I think that is a very significant increase in those supplies. But, the national vaccine program must work right across the country, and we cannot disrupt its implementation around the country, which will put other parts of the country at risk. And, so, the suggestion that that could be done, and people's appointments in Melbourne would be cancelled for appointments to be created in another part of the city, sorry the other part of the country, would be very disruptive. It would, it would interrupt the rhythm of the national vaccine program, which is hitting these marks now, where we most recently had a million doses in just six days. So, I don't share the view that this is somehow a competition between states on this. I actually don't share that. I think the national vaccine program all around the country, from Cairns down to Tassie and over to Western Australia, it needs to maintain its momentum, and that means you don't go and disrupt it. We are getting more into New South Wales, as I've said, significant quantities, but we need to make sure the rest of the country maintains the pace, because the Delta variant can present these circumstances in any state and territory in the country. No other state or territory has some, has some special immunity to the Delta variant. And, so, we want to maintain the pace of those vaccine programs right across the country. And, of course, accelerated as best we can in New South Wales. But, the way the lockdown ends is the lockdown being effective. Laura.

Journalist: Prime Minister, don't the way the numbers are …

Prime Minister: I can't quite hear you.

Journalist: Don't the way the numbers are unfolding suggest that the lockdown isn't being effective? Does it need to be harder? Does the Government in New South Wales have to rethink things? And, if we've got this situation where there's an expectation that New, Victoria and South Australia could come out of the lockdown, but we're looking at months in New South Wales, once we're clear on those other states, the Federal Government will actually have to provide something more than just emergency measures? I understand what you're saying about it being, you know, short term, getting the money out the door, but you're looking at a fairly significant economic crisis in New South Wales over months.

Prime Minister: Yeah, well, that's true, and that's why we’ll be pumping half a billion dollars into New South Wales every week, especially for as long as the lockdown continues. But, any sort of further impacts of that then, obviously, we’ll work those through. I mean, this is the Government that delivered the single largest measure of economic support the country has ever seen, based on the need of the economy and the Australian people. And, that main, that is our view now. And, we will continue to do what is necessary to ensure the, the recovery of our economy, to get to the other side of this when the lockdowns are lifted. And, so, the Treasurer and I and the Expenditure Review Committee of Cabinet, we meet regularly, we met this week. We will continue to work through contingency options and prepare ourselves for whatever set of circumstances may present. So, we'll keep doing that.

On the second point, or the first point you raised, that is principally a matter for the New South Wales Government. I’ll be talking to the Premier again later today, but there isn't an alternative to the lockdown. Let me be clear. There is not an alternative to the lockdown in New South Wales to get this under control. There is no other magic bullet that is going to do that. There is no vaccine solution that's going to do that. The lockdown is what is going to do it. It can be assisted by the vaccines, but the lockdown must be effective. The alternative does not bear thinking. And, so, it's essential that every, every effort is focused on making sure that lockdown does its job.

Journalist: You have made the commitment a while ago that you want every Australian to be offered a vaccine by the end of this year …

Prime Minister: Should they want one, yeah.

Journalist: Should they want one. A lot has happened since then. Do you still stand by that commitment? And, when do you expect the newer age group, the 12 to 15s, to be able to, to get their vaccine?

Prime Minister: Yeah, that absolutely remains our goal by the end of the year, and we have the supplies to achieve that. And, as the distribution and the dosage is demonstrating now, with a million in just six days now, then that is absolutely achievable. It really is over to everybody else as well now, to make sure people go and get those vaccines. And, as that supply continues to mount, as we're seeing right now, then those opportunities will see those vaccination rates rise, as we have seen in other countries at this phase of their vaccination program.

In relation to 12 to 15-year-olds, as the TGA provided that approval, ATAGI is now assessing that situation and will be providing us further information in mid-August, I understand. And, the application of vaccines to those age groups is something we need to carefully consider, both in its application and whether that relates to more vulnerable children with other conditions and things of that nature. That's a first point which ATAGI is considering, and also what we discussed on Friday with the premiers that should we go forward, depending on what the ATAGI advice is, then we would seek to be doing that in the most effective way we can and have our states to be looking at school-based systems for delivering that. Timing of that yet to be determined. And, the Commonwealth is similarly looking at ways that that can be achieved, and that's been incorporated in Lieutenant General Frewen’s planning. So, there is a few, few more pieces of information that need to fall into place, I think, before we're able to give a definitive answer on that. But, I can assure you that both the planning and the consideration of the medical issues are very high on our, on our agenda. The National Security Committee of Cabinet this week also considered this issue at some length about how we might respond. And, but those responses will depend on that next information that I’ve mentioned.

Journalist: Just, just back to Trudy's question about the New South Wales Premier wanting the other states to handover doses. Daniel Andrews said today that if New South Wales could produce modelling that would show that extra doses into south western Sydney would make a difference, he'd be happy to have that conversation. Do you have that same view? And, is it your view about you saying vaccines don't make any, would not make much of a difference now, is that based on the health advice from the Government's advisers?

Prime Minister: Well, I'm always acting having listened to the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and, and the Secretary of the Department of Health. That's why I'm saying it can assist, of course it can assist. People getting vaccinated can assist, but I wouldn't want it to be in anyone's mind that it replaces the principal tool, which is the lockdown. It's not a substitute for a lockdown. And, you need to weigh up the effectiveness of that with the disruption to the broader national vaccine program that could set other states and territories back some way in meeting their vaccination targets. We need to get the whole country vaccinated and those that are going through lockdowns, well, that is the principal way by which we're able to seek to bring the Delta variant under control in those cities. So, I'm not necessarily responding directly to what Premier Andrews said. He made similar comments on Friday. So, it's not that people aren't open to it, but when you're, when you're looking at the potential disruption of the national program more broadly, when these objectives can be addressed through the mechanisms we are using. I mean, it wasn't just the additional doses that are going through to New South Wales. And, I stress, for AstraZeneca, not just Pfizer. ATAGI has said, go and consider that and please do it promptly, because that's what is necessary to try and address that. So, there's no shortage of AstraZeneca being there to be able to support that vaccination effort, and there's additional Pfizer support to address that effort. So, that's the balance of the discussion. I thought it was a very constructive discussion. There's a, there's a preparedness, but keeping the national vaccination program on track is incredibly important.

The other thing we did was move the three week out to six week for Pfizer second doses, which means that New South Wales can do more first doses now to up that level of immediate protection that is available. So, there were responses on Friday. There was good discussion on Friday. There are more doses in New South Wales of both Pfizer and AstraZeneca. And, I can tell you there's a truckload of financial support going in from the Commonwealth as well.

Journalist: On ATAGI, Prime Minister, will you now lobby the ATAGI to broaden its Sydney AstraZeneca advice to the whole of the country, considering that, you know, a woman has tragically died in her 30s with no pre-existing conditions, as people without any vaccines under 30 and these Delta outbreaks can happen anywhere in the country?

Prime Minister: Well, I'm, I'm quite confident that ATAGI will continue to assess their advice based on the balance of risk that they've articulated.

Journalist: George Christensen’s Facebook post, Prime Minister, George Christensen said in his Facebook post, “Civil disobedience eventually becomes the only response to laws that restrict freedom. This is what we've seen in Melbourne today.” And, he quotes Martin Luther King that, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” How can you stand there and seriously suggest that your Government MP wasn't encouraging a breach of public health orders in other states?

Prime Minister: Well, the comments I made before related to an event that took place in Queensland where there are no lockdowns. And, I have, I don't support any suggestion that would suggest that people should gather as they did in Sydney yesterday, whatsoever.

Journalist: Just further on the change to the ATAGI advice, it's similar to Richard's question, but the, their advice is, as you’ve said today, strongly consider.

Prime Minister: Yes.

Journalist: Now, that’s not, still not telling people go and have this vaccine. Do you think ATAGI could strengthen that further or give people more information to help them make that consideration? Or, is it on yourself ...

Prime Minister: I think Australians get the point of what ATAGI has said, and I think Australians understand, particularly in Greater Sydney, the challenges that they now face. And, I think ATAGI have been very clear about the importance of them going and strongly considering those options. And, and I suggest that they strongly consider that. 

Journalist: Prime Minister, on these booster doses, on these booster doses, when do you expect them to arrive in Australia, and when do you expect them to begin rolling out? And, when are we going to be faced with needing booster doses?

Prime Minister: Well, they’ll begin rolling out from the beginning of next year. They'll be available from the beginning of next year, and the supply goes throughout the year. As yet, we don't have definitive advice about the timing of booster doses, just like last year, we didn’t have definitive advice about the efficacy of any vaccines. So, this is prudent future proofing that we’ve put in place here. And, so, we'll be guided, I think, by the science and the evidence that is emerging about when second doses are necessary. I believe, I think it's only Israel at this point that has, is about to sort of contemplate going into booster shots. Just so happens that Australia will have administered as many vaccines as the state of Israel within a few days, as they've done, and, you know, obviously a much smaller population. So, we will continue to watch carefully that, that advice and that evidence. With so many countries now in different phases of this, this pandemic and confronted with different challenges, the sharing of this information is incredibly important. So, there's nothing definitively yet. But, I can tell you, when it's needed, it'll be there. And, that's why today's announcement is so important.

Journalist: Do you think there’s been a lot of brand damage done to AstraZeneca that, sadly, some people are just too afraid to go out and get it, and is ATAGI partly responsible for that?

Prime Minister: Oh, look, undoubtedly the events of the past few months have caused some hesitation and needlessly, needlessly. This is an effective vaccine that can help save people's lives. We saw it save countless number of lives in the United Kingdom, and it will save lives here, too, in Australia. There's no doubt about that. So, the good news is that its medical potency hasn't changed. Comments about brand, well, that doesn't make it less effective, medically, scientifically. It's a, it's a powerful vaccine that helped save lives. And, as ATAGI has said, people should be strongly considering going and doing that, together with the other vaccines that are there. And, it's just important we get these jabs in arms as, as quickly as we possibly can.

Journalist: Prime Minister, one more on the booster, if I could. The World Health Organization has spoken in the last little while about wealthier countries talking about third doses, whereas, you know, poorer countries are still waiting potentially for their first one. WHO has said, you know, wealthier countries should be looking to donate more doses to the developing world. I know, obviously, we're contributing a lot through COVAX and through [inaudible] and the Pacific and that sort of thing, but in light of that, do you think there is maybe more of a case for us now having secured all these millions and millions of doses, once we’ve figured out our second doses, to start then adding more to those developing parts of the world?

Prime Minister: Well, look, I thank you for your question and it absolutely enables us to do this. Eighty five million doses, 60 million next year. That is more than enough, many times over, for us, particularly for single dose booster shots, and this will equip us, I think, to lean in even further to the support we're providing to our Pacific family. I just spoke to the new Prime Minister of Samoa yesterday and congratulated her and we talked about this very issue, and there are more doses of AstraZeneca turning up in Samoa this week. I think it's some 30,000 this week are turning up there in Samoa. In Fiji, half a million doses, actually more than that. Across the Pacific, almost a million doses are there supporting that effort. But, this means that it enables us to meet our commitments that I have made through the Quad, through the G20 as well, and the direct commitments we have made, and of course, our COVAX commitments, so, the countries of our region know that Australia is seeking to stand by them as best as we possibly can. And, that is no more so the case than with our Pacific family, and we're not just sending them doses, we've got teams there helping them, training them to distribute it and plan, and do all of those things as well. We've got a Medevac team which is over in Fiji even as we speak.

Journalist: Do people under 40 still need to see a GP before agreeing to have the AstraZeneca, and do GPs have sufficient information about the latest advice?

Prime Minister: Well, it should be clear - they can see a GP. It was never a requirement for them to see a GP. We provided through Medicare the opportunity for them to do that, and to do so at no cost to them. But, whether you go to a pharmacist and get your AstraZeneca, your GP, and hopefully more so in New South Wales state clinics, your AstraZeneca there, it's informed consent and it's up to all of us. We have responsibility for our own health and to be able to take what advice we think is necessary for us to form our own view about what's best for us and, and be able to give that informed consent. Great. Last one. 

Journalist: Prime Minister, you said in your speech this morning we may not get every decision right. Are there any decisions you made in relation to the vaccine rollout that you believe you didn't get right? And, if so, how would you do things differently?

Prime Minister: I'm sure there'll be plenty of critics who will be able to help you write those up in the history books. What matters is what we do now. That's what matters now. And, we've been able to make up ground significantly over the last few months. And, when I saw today that we were able to do a million doses in six days, then that tells me we've turned this around and we're on the right track. So, now, we've all got our part to play. I know lockdowns are incredibly debilitating. They're frustrating. And, you, and you feel powerless when you're in one of those lockdowns. What can I do about this situation? I get that. What you can do about it is you can get vaccinated. What you can do about it is you can stay home. What you can do about it is you get tested if you’ve showing any sort of symptoms or you're subject to a testing order because of a close contact or something of that nature. That's what you can do about it. That's what you can do about it every day, and every day we do that is a day closer to where we want to be. Thank you all very much. And, congratulations to our gold medallists, our golden girls, the queens of the pool, and we look forward to more of that to come. Thank you all very much.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43495

Press Conference - Canberra, ACT

23 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Thank you everyone for joining us in these conditions. National Cabinet met today in what are very challenging circumstances all around the country. But, particularly in three states - in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia - and especially in New South Wales, in particular in my home city of Sydney. Within New South Wales, the challenge is great, just as it was last year in Melbourne and across Victoria. The Delta variant - as I've been saying for sometime, as have the premiers and the other chief ministers - the Delta variant presents a very fresh challenge and we have to adapt and we have to change on occasions how we do things, just as countries are all around the world, whether they be in Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, indeed of course here in Australia and across Europe and other parts of the world. That's the nature of the Delta variant.

So, in New South Wales, as we continue to combat this in Sydney, what I want to say to those in Sydney is we've got to press on. We've got to continue to show that strength. We've got to continue to support each other. There are no easy solutions here. There are no silver bullets, just as there were not last year when Victoria went through their prolonged lockdown. This thing only gets beaten by suppressing it. Of course, vaccines can put wind at the back of those who are trying to achieve that outcome, and that's what we have to do. And, today at National Cabinet we had a rather lengthy and extensive discussion about the situation in New South Wales. And, I want to thank the New South Wales Premier for her candour in sharing her plans and her arrangements with her colleagues. It was a very good opportunity for people to provide their insights, their support and their feedback, in particular for what is happening in Sydney. And, there was strong support for New South Wales in the considerable efforts that they are undertaking.

But, even more significant than that, there was strong support for the people of Sydney and of New South Wales. Just as Victoria pushed through last year, New South Wales, I know, will push through. And, it's important that we actually come together at this time in Sydney and across the state and to look forward at what we have to do. The key to the answer in New South Wales is every single person who lives there. The support is there, increased economic support, the plans and the protections that are being provided by the State Government. There are no perfect solutions here, and by simply focusing on what's ahead and what we have to do each and every day, that is what sees us through this time. So, I want to encourage my fellow New South Welshmen and women as they go through this hard part. And, it is tough. It's frustrating, and it's, it really can get people down. But, that's why we put the mental health support in as well. And, so, today it was a good opportunity to work through further supports, further solutions that can carry that issue forward, which I'll come back to in a second.

The National Cabinet once again updated on the timetable for developing our four step plan. We will soon receive that first set of advice from the Doherty Institute that takes into account the Delta strain. We will then work with the treasuries around the country, including the Commonwealth Treasury, to bring together a first set of advice that premiers, chief ministers, myself can work through. This will be an iterative process. It won't all be solved at one meeting, and we undertook today to meet as regularly and as often as we, as we have to to get that job done, to set those benchmarks and targets that need to be achieved for vaccination, to put those against the national plan that we have agreed already in its stages, to ensure that that can provide the road out. And, we hope that also is of great encouragement to everyone who is going through those lockdowns at present and will into the future.

We noted progress on the vaccination program more broadly today. Another record day - almost 200,000 vaccines delivered in one day. This program goes from strength to strength each and every day now. And, that means we have turned that corner and we are hitting those marks that we need to hit to ensure that the vaccines rollout all across the country. And, we cannot disrupt the flow of that. We need to keep going in ensuring that people are going out there and getting those vaccines. Both vaccines work effectively. Both vaccines are licenced for use and approved for use in this country for those over 18. And, as today we learnt with the Pfizer vaccine, for those over 12, and I'll return to that in a moment. But, those vaccines are important and I'd encourage people right across those age spectrums to access those vaccines that are available to you, to talk to your GP. We've got more pharmacists coming on, more GPS coming on, the state clinics ramping up, particularly in Sydney and particularly in those hotspot areas that are most the focus of our attention at present. And, particularly those both who are older and those who are younger, and the Premier has had more to say about that this morning.

A couple of other quick points. The freight code - which was really important to keep trucks moving between and across state and territory boundaries - we have tasked transport ministers to go back to that code and the AHPPC, the medical expert panel, to make sure that we've got greater consistency in the testing regimes that are being used by those trucking companies and the drivers. We've had the feedback that it's, needs some attention. It needs to be firmed up again and make sure there's greater consistency in the rules that are being applied. The truckies, they're doing a great job keeping Australia moving and we want to minimise that inconvenience for them. They're being completely compliant and completely cooperative, and they'd like to see those rules just a bit easier to comply with and a lot more consistent. We've heard you, and we'll task those ministers to get that sorted over the course of the next week. In addition, we'll be reviewing further situations regarding shipping coming in around the country and making sure arrangements around crew are as they need to be.

The further review of hotel quarantine now due, that will be completed and will be commissioned to be undertaken by the end of September. I note that Multiplex has been appointed as the tenderer to construct the quarantine facility in Victoria by the Commonwealth Government, and then working in partnership with the State Government. And, there are feasibility assessments already underway in Queensland and in Western Australia.

If I can come back to the situation in New South Wales. First of all, I note that there's been significant support already provided into New South Wales, and it'll keep flowing. Some $290 million has already gone out the door to support some, just over [3]50,000 people across Sydney and New South Wales to keep them going through this lockdown. Those people in Sydney and across New South Wales who have already registered for that payment now, that payment will keep coming week after week after week, for as long as the lockdown goes. You do not have to go back and reapply for that payment. It is a recurring payment now, and you can rely on that continuing to support you. If you become in need of that payment, you can go and apply for it going forward. If you're not receiving it now, but you find yourself in a situation where you need it going forward, you can go and make that application.

I should also note in Victoria, we have had some 25,000 claims submitted, because theirs started today, for those COVID Disaster Payments. At midday, they'd answered approximately 3,500 calls. And, what is positive is that in the same way we've been able to cope with that demand - as I said already supporting over 350,000 people in Sydney - then we're confident that that will continue for people in Victoria. And, next week that process will start for those in South Australia.

In New South Wales, we discussed today the need to continue to suppress the virus to get us back to that point of removing community transmission infectious in the community of those cases. The goal has not changed. Suppression is the primary tool to achieve that, and vaccines can help that. To that end, we discussed, and will be confirming over the next 24 hours, the ability for in New South Wales, in their state vaccine centres, for them to do greater amounts of first doses by staying within the medical advice, the ATAGI advice, which says that second doses of Pfizer can be extended out to six weeks. So, that is an existing regulation. It is an existing approval. It is existing medical advice. So, to increase the amount of first doses that can be delivered, maximising greater the supply we have available, then we're working to put in that in place in New South Wales because of the situation that exists there. And, that is important to be able to achieve.

In the same way, we've had the flexibility to bring forward AstraZeneca second doses. Now, that is especially important for all of the population, but in particular those who are elderly, who I've said are most at risk during a COVID outbreak. So, I am very keen to ensure that if you haven't had your second dose, if it's been four weeks, then please book yourself in for that second dose so you can protect yourself in the midst of this particular outbreak, and we'd encourage you to do that.

There was also widespread agreement, there was agreement amongst the National Cabinet that we need to continue to lean in to AstraZeneca, particularly in New South Wales, supporting that both through the pharmacies, as I announced yesterday, the GPs, and also through the state-based clinics. Those vaccines are available to you in all those clinics. It is licenced, it is approved for all ages with informed consent for those under the age of 60. And, we'd encourage you to do that because if you're vaccinated, you're less likely to transmit, you're less likely to get the virus yourself, you're less likely to get serious disease, you're less likely to be in hospital, and you're less likely to suffer a fatality. So, whether it's AstraZeneca or whether it is, it is the Pfizer vaccine, both of those are important. And, as Kyle Sandilands said, 'Get Vaxxed Baby'. That's what we need in New South Wales. That's what we need indeed across the country. And, we're putting those supports in place.

Where there is a potential to put more vaccines into New South Wales, even beyond what we're already doing, well, of course, we will seek to do that. But, we are not going to disrupt the vaccination program around the rest of the country. That vaccination program is going and is hitting as it marks, and we want that to continue. The Delta strain of the virus is obviously very fast transmitting and we need all the other states and territories to be continuing to get up to the mark, the marks that we need to set for ourselves to ensure we can get this job done this year. Thanks for your attention.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what position did you take on New South Wales' request for extra Pfizer doses? Do we understand from your comments there that New South Wales won't be getting extra Pfizer doses in the immediate future? And, will you build a federal reserve so that in the future the Commonwealth has some extra capacity to give states Pfizer doses when there are outbreaks?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have already given New South Wales an additional 150,000 doses. That was in immediate response to the request the Premier made of me on the 7th of July. And, they have been provided, along with an additional 150,000 AstraZeneca doses, and more doses as they're available will be provided to New South Wales. And we'll work with them on that. So, no, your assumption wouldn't be correct.

JOURNALIST: Were there any extra doses, were there any extra doses today? And, what position did you take on New South Wales' request?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't discuss what happens in National Cabinet. But, what I'm saying is the Federal Government will be working to support New South Wales, and where there are extra doses that can be provided to support the plan that is in place there, then that's what we'll do.

JOURNALIST: When would they be available?

PRIME MINISTER: When they're available to be provided.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you expect that the New South Wales Premier will now accept the assistance from the Defence Forces? And, what difference would the Defence Forces actually make on the ground in Sydney?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, last year, the Defence Forces through Operation COVID Assist in Victoria were enormously helpful. And, of course, those offers have been available in New South Wales for some time, as they have in all states and territories that find themselves in this situation, indeed, as they were in Victoria last year. That includes planning and logistics and liaison support through their agencies. It includes qualified medical personnel supporting testing locations. It included supporting Victoria Police through metropolitan control points. There was an ADF assessment team supporting Emergency Management Victoria's Regional Control Centre. ADF personnel partnered with Department of Health authorised officers to conduct community engagement patrols. There was support to Victoria Police on community outreach. They supported the police assistance line in Ballarat. There was also support for contact tracing and data management. ADF personnel even undertook driver and general duties to support emergency vehicle crews, and there was particular support provided to the Aged Care Response Centre.

So, the involvement of the ADF is not in, necessarily always in an enforcement or compliance mechanism. In, in fact, it's specifically not in that, because they are not legally authorised officers to undertake compliance and enforcement. That has to be done properly by those authorities in New South Wales or in Victoria, as it was last year. There is a broad array of supports that the ADF can provide, and currently the ADF right across the country is providing a large amount of support - some 1,200. There are already 252 ADF in New South Wales right now. In Victoria, there's some 300. There's 228 in Queensland, there's 121 in South Australia, and in the other states as well. In fact, including 147 in the Northern Territory. Operation COVID Assist continues to rollout around the country and is available to those states for those purposes.

JOURNALIST: Daniel Andrews, the Victorian Premier, says a ring of steel around Sydney is necessary. Noting how transmissible Delta is, it's already leaked from New South Wales, was that discussed in the meeting? What is your view? Is it necessary?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the only view that matters on this is the view of the New South Wales Premier, because they're responsible for how they manage the lockdown in New South Wales. Of course, the Premier discussed these issues with her colleagues today and myself, and there was, I think, good and positive discussion around that. It was a good opportunity, I think, for the New South Wales Premier to spell out in very specific detail the extensive lockdown that is in place in New South Wales. There's nothing light about the lockdown in New South- in Sydney, I can assure you. My family are in it.

JOURNALIST: Is it efficient for other states and territories to be protected?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we've seen in New South Wales, as the Premier has already indicated, on the single case that arrived in Orange, they went into a seven-day, seven-day lockdown immediately. And, in fact, out of the, I think, the five LGAs specifically, there is no basis for anyone in those areas, in those hotspots, which account for the overwhelming majority of cases, to leave the metropolitan area or their own area at all, regardless of what their job is. That's even far stronger than existed last year, where there were exemptions around particular employment categories in Victoria. So, I think it was a good opportunity, I suppose, to dispel any concerns that this was not a very strong lockdown being put in place for the residents of Greater Sydney to comply with. I'm quite certain that people living in Greater Sydney do not feel they're under loose restrictions. They are under very tight restrictions, particularly those living in those most affected areas.

JOURNALIST: Do you believe that the virus is out of control in Sydney? And, do you agree that that presents a national emergency, as the Premier said?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've been, I've been treating COVID-19 as a national emergency for the last almost two years. And, that hasn't changed in that entirety of the time we've been managing this pandemic. Lives and livelihoods have been at stake right across the country this entire period. What I would note from the data we're seeing coming out in New South Wales is they've prevented the exponential growth that we've seen in other countries, which has taken hold with Delta. So, they've been able to suppress that exponential rate of growth, which is very important. And so, you know, when you've got exponential growth in cases, that's what you'd call out of control. And, that's not occurring in New South Wales. And, I'd, I'd reassure people in Sydney, in particular, that what you're doing now is saving lives. It is working to bring this under control. In Victoria, when they went through the lockdown, they saw cases rise and rise and rise for many, many weeks while they were in lockdown. And, that's what occurs when the virus is operating in this, in this phase. And, so, the lockdown is the most important factor in arresting the growth - first, in cases, which they have had some success in achieving, and will have more, we believe. But, then it is the task of seeing it come down, and the lockdown and the suppression is the key vehicle through which that is achieved. That is the experience of what we've seen in other parts of the country. And, so, that can be assisted by the vaccine program, and that's why additional support is going into the vaccine program and has been given in New South Wales already to assist that lockdown process. It's the same reason why the payments are there and the economic supports, to support the lockdown, because it's the lockdown that is the principal tool that will see Greater Sydney and New South Wales through this. And, that's why Sydneysiders, and New South Wales more broadly and all those impacted, we've just got to push through.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, National Cabinet decided in June that it was not going to proceed with …

PRIME MINISTER: I can't quite hear you, I'm sorry.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, National Cabinet decided in June that it wasn't proceeding with identifying professions that would get priority access to vaccines, beyond the handful of ones that initially got it. We're now seeing outbreaks in essential workers in Sydney, which is similar to what happened in Melbourne. Was that a mistake? And, are you reconsidering giving priority access to younger workers in supermarkets, for example, access to Pfizer, who haven't been able to get it? And, just as a second, if I may, do you agree with Brendan Murphy's comments that even if we had higher rates of vaccination, we still may be going into these lockdowns?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's the evidence, on your latter point, that's, that's the lived experience of countries all around the world who do have higher rates of vaccination. I don't think that's an opinion. I think it's a fact. And, I've been making this point for some time. That is the nature of the Delta variant to the coronavirus, to COVID-19. So, I think Professor Murphy has simply stated a clear fact. And, that's one we need to bear in mind, and that's why this is such a significant challenge.

AstraZeneca is available across the population through informed consent, and we've seen tens of thousands of young people taking that up, and people should talk to their doctor and make their own informed consent decision about that. Younger people who have been in, particularly health worker occupations and those sorts of things, as you know, were given those access to other vaccines in the earlier stages of the program, and that's also been important. The program that the Premier is working through now and that we have been discussing for the last week, in fact, and yeah about the last week, I would say, well certainly the last few days, is how especially we can be targeting those workers who might be in food processing, that is, the distribution centres that are particularly present in those areas to ensure that supplies can be maintained. And, and I think that's another effective area of focus. And, I know the Premier is very focused on those key spreader demographics and occupations at the moment. And, that's the reason for having the change, well, not the change, but taking advantage of the three to six week rule on the second dose and bringing forward more of those first doses that would make that more plausible to achieve.

JOURNALIST: So, will those younger workers get priority access?

PRIME MINISTER: I'm sorry, I can't hear you.

JOURNALIST: Will those younger workers get priority access?

PRIME MINISTER: So, that's a matter for the, how the Premier is putting that plan in place. She's asked us to help her in that, in that program. And, we're doing everything we can, consistent with the national program, to support her in that effort. But, I'd stress again, if you're in the particularly vulnerable group, I would urge you to go and get your second dose of that vaccine, or indeed your first. And, that is for older age groups. If you're in the younger age groups, go and see your doctor, go and chat to them, have a chat to them about the AstraZeneca vaccine in particular, and make an informed choice that enables you to take a decision that can see you more protected, see your family more protected and your community more protected. Thank you very much.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43493

Press Conference - Canberra, ACT

22 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Afternoon everyone. Last night, we were all Queenslanders, right across the country. The securing of the 2032 games for Australia in Brisbane and south east Queensland, taking in, of course, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, is a great result for Australia and a great boost at a time when Australians around the country, particularly in southern states, are doing it tough as we, as we battle through this most recent episode we’re going through in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. There’ll be kids who are turning up at the Valley Pool in Brisbane this morning and all around the country doing their training knowing that they put those laps in, then they too might be able to compete in an Olympic Games held in Australia. And, that is just such a thrilling, thrilling idea, a thrilling notion that kids around the country, whether they’re playing hockey or they’re swimmers or whatever they happen to be, that they can look forward to that. It’s a great boost for Australian sport. It’s a great recognition, I think, of Australia’s sporting lifestyle and the commitment that we have had to the Olympic movement from that very first summer games back in 1896 when Edwin Flack went round in the 800 metres. It’s very exciting news for Australians. So, to everybody up there in Queensland, it’s a win for all Queenslanders, it’s a win for all those in south east Queensland, and it’s a great win for Australia.

Can I particularly thank all of those who have been so involved in this process over many years. Can I especially thank my own team, Ted O’Brien has been my special envoy from the Sunshine Coast there, working this now for quite a period of time, working with the Queensland Government, working with the Olympic movement and John Coates and all of that team and, of course, all the regional mayors in south east Queensland. And, to Adrian, the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, who’s done a terrific job. That’s really where the inspiration first came from together with Olympic movement, and we were always pleased to be on board right from the beginning, going back to those early meetings I had with Dr Bach in Osaka first, and then to Tokyo, and much engagements since then. Can I, of course, congratulate the Queensland Government and Premier Palaszczuk and all of those who participated in the presentation yesterday. I was thrilled to be able to join what was a very historic presentation from Australia here in Canberra yesterday, and to get that result I think’s absolutely tremendous.

Of course, it’s going to be a big economic boost to Australia. Some $18 billion is the estimate over the course of now and to the games. Those of us who’ve, you know, from Sydney understand how big a deal it was for Sydney to, over 20 years ago. Brisbane, south east Queensland, Australians all have a lot to look forward to as we work forward to those games. So, congratulations to everybody and enjoy that moment. A lot of work to do now.

I stress that the arrangement we have with the Queensland Government is not a 50-50 funding partnership. It’s a 50-50 partnership. What that means is the decisions, the planning, the scoping of venues, the procurement, the contracts, the appointments – whether it’s to the organising committee, the establishment of the coordination authority – all of that is a shared exercise. It’s not just one state running a games and sending us the bill. No, no. What we offered was to partner 100 per cent and work shoulder to shoulder, share in those decisions, share in that planning, share in the contracting and the procurement. And, that will be done hand in hand all the way from here to the 2032 games. Now, that was a key factor in how we were able to secure those games because of not just the level of funding, but the partnership between the Commonwealth Government and the State Government. Now, this is quite different to what occurred in the Sydney Olympics. In the Sydney Olympics, it was run by the New South Wales Government, basically pretty much paid for by the New South Wales Government. The Olympic Coordination Authority, SOCOG, all of that run by the New South Wales Government. This is a completely different model. This is a 50-50 model where the two come together. That’s what the Premier and I agreed when we finally finalised our bid, and Ted O’Brien is actually sitting down with the Queensland Government this afternoon. I was talking to him earlier, and we’re getting on with it right from now. So, up up Brisbane, up up Australia.

Can I move now to the fact that COVID NSC met again today. We’re meeting weekly, have been for a very long time. The National Security Committee operating focused solely on managing the COVID response. And, the vaccination program today hit another historic record – 184,000 vaccines done in a day. That is the equivalent per head of population of 2.36 million doses in the United States a day, or 481,000 in the United Kingdom when you express it as per head of population. So, we are really hitting these marks now. More than a million doses being done in a seven-day period; 184,000 is a new mark for a daily record; 104,000 primary care vaccines administered. So, another record for our GPs. That primary care model is the workhorse of the vaccination program that is delivering those vaccinations and getting those jabs in arms as quickly as we possibly can. And, I note that there’s some six million AstraZeneca vaccines now that have been administered in this country, which is incredibly important, and so we continue to go from strength to strength.

Now, as I said yesterday, I take responsibility for the vaccination program. I also take responsibility for the challenges we’ve had. Obviously, some things within our control, some things that are not. And, I’m, I’m keen to ensure, as we have been over these many months, that we’ve been turning this around. I’m certainly sorry that we haven’t been able to achieve the marks that we had hoped for at the beginning of this year. Of course I am. But what’s more important is that we’re totally focused on ensuring that we’ve been turning this around. And if I give you some statistics, just to give you an idea of how much things have been turned around in just the last month, if you go back to the 21st of June, until now, we have seen the double dose vaccination rates almost triple in the last month. We’ve gone from just over five per cent to 15 per cent double dose today. We now have 36 per cent of those over 15 years old who have received a first dose. For those who are over 50. Go back a month. We’re at six per cent on double dose. We’re now at 20 per cent on double dose in just one month. And for those who are over 70, double doses of just over nine per cent a month ago, and today we’re at 33.9 per cent, over a third of those who are aged over 70 have received both doses of the vaccine. And of course, that figure in aged care is well north of 80 per cent. 76 per cent in total now, of those aged, over 70 have received their first dose of the vaccine. And so we will continue to press forward.

I also note that since I made some remarks about the AZ being available right across the population for those who wish to go and see their GP, I made those comments on the 28th of June. There have been 76,595 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered to people under the age of 40 since that day. So if people wish to do that, they should go and see their GP. Of course, there’s the informed consent process, but there is, and that’s first and second doses. So just under 40,000 first doses and almost and almost 37,000 second doses of AZ. The vaccines work. That was confirmed to us again today by the Chief Medical Officer, whether it’s AstraZeneca or whether it’s Pfizer or indeed the Moderna vaccines that will be coming soon, later this year. These vaccines work. The vaccines mean that you’re less likely to get COVID, you’re less likely to transmit COVID, you’re less likely to get serious illness from COVID and you’re less likely to die from COVID. That’s what the vaccines do. And that’s what Australians need. To be less likely to get it, to be less likely to transmit it, to be less likely to get a serious illness requiring hospitalisation and less likely to die from it. It is deeply distressing and upsetting to know that the recent fatalities have involved those unvaccinated in the community, those aged over 50 and particularly aged over 70. The vaccine has been available to over 70s for many, many months, and we need to work even harder to get those vaccines, particularly in the most vulnerable in our community, particularly those aged over 70.

Now, I spoke to the Premier of New South Wales last night at some length, and we’re in regular contact, as you’d expect. Was in touch with the Victorian Premier yesterday. We’re speaking later today and of course, also in constant contact with the South Australian Premier. And in New South Wales and in particularly in the Sydney area, it is very vital that all those in those vulnerable populations aged over 70 in particular, but I’d say aged over 60, please go and get your AstraZeneca vaccine as soon as you possibly can. The numbers that we’re seeing coming out of New South Wales show that the lockdown is keeping a lid on this. And it’s going to be some time, though, clearly, from what the Premier has been saying and and the numbers that we’re seeing to see these numbers go down to where we’d like to see them go. But the risk that is there means that it is vital, absolutely vital, and I implore not just those themselves who are over 60 to go and do this, have the conversation in your family, talk to your parents, talk to your relatives who are particularly in that age group, have the discussion, offer to book it for them, take them along. It’s important that you get your family, particularly the more elderly members of your family, vaccinated. If the COVID break out in New South Wales and in Sydney in particular, were to extend beyond where it is, then that will, of course, put older people in the community at great risk. So that risk is accelerating. And it’s very important that you take the opportunity to go and get those AstraZeneca vaccines to ensure you’re protected and that your family and your community is protected.

Now, on the vaccine programme itself, we made some further important decisions today. We will be bringing further forward the pharmacy programme and accelerating that, which was due to be coming in in September with the Moderna vaccines and the MRNA vaccine. That will still occur for the MRNA vaccines. But pharmacy has always been an essential part of the Australian health care system. And earlier this year we did the preregistration process and was able to identify some just shy of 4,000 pharmacies found suitable to participate in the rollout. Right now, there are 118 community pharmacies currently vaccinating around the country, particularly in rural and regional areas where they’re supplementing the GPs, where there’s a shortage of GPs in particular areas. By the end of this month, there’ll be 470. So for every, every pharmacist that’s out there doing vaccinations right now, there’ll be three times as many by the end of this month. Now, we also were able to identify 1,262 suitable pharmacies from regional, rural and remote areas that will be able to come into the programme and a further 2,668 in metropolitan areas. I note that particularly in the metropolitan areas affected by the latest outbreak in Sydney, in Fairfield, Canterbury, Bankstown and Liverpool, 48 pharmacies will commence offering vaccines in these areas by the start of next week. There’s also the Chester Hill GP Respiratory Clinic, which has also been set up. And we’ve been working to establish that with local doctors there over recent weeks to get that in place. And I particularly want to thank Dr Rifi for working with us and the Commonwealth and state government on those on those initiatives.

From next Monday, all community pharmacies across the country will be eligible to request participation in administering AstraZeneca vaccinations to the Australian population, and we expect to see them commencing their vaccinations in mid-August. There is a process of the training, the certification that you need to go through. Safety is always important for the administration of vaccines, and that’s what will be happening. So from next Monday, the Department of Health will be reaching out and similarly, pharmacies reaching in to get that process going. And that follows what I’ve already said, which is the tripling of pharmacies by the end of this month. Now, I also want to stress that all remaining GPs who would like to participate in the programme can also do that from Monday. And that is all about increasing the many points of presence. And this is for AstraZeneca, I should stress. This increase in the pharmacy rollout for now is about AstraZeneca, and it’s particularly designed to ensure that we can address those more vulnerable populations over 60.

So it’s very important in Sydney, as I said before, but we’re facing challenges in Victoria where things are a lot more manageable and also in South Australia. And so far those signs are encouraging, but there’s still further time to play out there. But if you’re in Perth, if you’re in Tassie, if you’re in Darwin, if you’re up in north Queensland, in Cairns or wherever you happen to be, this is important to ensure that you’re protected. The Delta variant is very aggressive. The vaccines work against the Delta variant. That is confirmed to us time and again. But it is important wherever you are in the country, to please go and see that pharmacist when they’re available or go and see your GP and make sure that you’re getting the AstraZeneca vaccines and similarly, through the state clinics that are providing those AstraZeneca vaccines. And we, of course, encouraging them to do that, that you can go and access them.

Now, just a couple of final points on payments. Good news from yesterday is that Services Australia, are processing more claims than they’re receiving. They processed some just shy of 70,000 claims yesterday on the disaster payment and received some just under 65,000. They’re making great progress. I want to thank all the people at Services Australia for the work that they’re doing, those both on the phones and those working the online systems, which are proving to be very effective in standing up. In total, $257,238,500 has already gone out the door in New South Wales in response to some 518,399 claims. This is obviously a big demand on the system, but the system is meeting that demand and people are getting access to those payments. [Inaudible] Those call times are coming down.

And also I’d note that from Friday tomorrow, that’s that’s when Victorians can go online and I encourage them to go online first. You have a CRN number with myGov, that’s the easiest way to do it. That’s the fastest way to do it and encourage you to use the online channels. For those who have particular needs, those in CALD communities, things like that, or need to discuss other elements of their support, then the online phone number telephony offer is there for you as well. But please go online. So far, there’s been 172,885 calls answered at Services Australia. And yesterday there was around 17 and a half thousand. So I’ll keep getting on with that job, we’ll keep getting on and our job and happy to take questions. Mark.

JOURNALIST: You’re saying people aged under 60 should talk to their GPs about getting AstraZeneca. Is this announcement mean, does it mean, that pharmacists will only be giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged over 60? Or can they now have that conversation with a pharmacist?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, if they wish to talk to a doctor, they should talk to the doctor. They should talk to their doctor to get that, that information that they need. But that’s always up to the individual. Pharmacists will be able to give vaccines right across the population because the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved by the TGA for people above the age of 18. But there is an informed consent process and pharmacists will follow the same informed consent process as a GP would follow. But we have provided, as you know, under Medicare, if people want to go and have a consultation with their GP, they may wish to go and do that, but then they may choose to go and see their pharmacist and get their vaccination that way. Or they may choose to go back to the same GP. It really is up to the individual as to how they wish to do that. Bringing in the pharmacists earlier than, than we’d planned, midyear was always an opportunity for us, means that we can get more more horsepower behind the AstraZeneca vaccines. But particularly, as I think you’ve probably picked up, I’m concerned about ensuring that we get those, those over 70 in particular getting vaccinated. Now, remember, you’ve got three quarters have already had their first dose. So by particularly focusing on them, that means we can get to high levels of second dose vaccination amongst our over 70s population. That is also important about how we can get to the next step, because our most vulnerable populations’ vaccination rates are very important in that process as well.

JOURNALIST: WA is not making the AstraZeneca vaccine available to under 60s in state run clinics. Just to be clear, is it your preference that under 60s be offered AstraZeneca in the state run clinics or not?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that’s a decision for the state governments about what they’re offering. I want to get AstraZeneca vaccines in people’s arms to protect them, their families and their communities. That’s what I want. I’m trying to lift the vaccination rate. And the states that have been leaning into vaccination using AstraZeneca have much higher vaccination rates than those who haven’t.

JOURNALIST: Just coming back on that question, just to clarify, can you get informed consent by simply seeing your pharmacist as opposed to seeing the GP? And secondly, can you, can you talk about the two people who sadly died taking AstraZeneca? And would you be worried if one of those people, as I understand it, had, or the family claims, didn’t get or wasn’t fully informed of the symptoms to look out for.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’re all responsible for our own health. And, when it comes to informed consent and getting consent to whatever treatment or procedure you may have or I may have, then I’m ultimately responsible for what people do in their health treatment to me. And, and there has been the opportunity for people to visit their GP to have that consultation. The Government has provided that and funded that, and the informed consent process provides the decision to the individual. That’s the sort of country we live in. People make their own decisions about their own health and their own bodies. That’s why we don’t have mandatory vaccination in relation to the general population here, because people make their own decisions and we encourage people to make those decisions. We make as much information available to them as is possible. The vaccines, like any vaccine, with any vaccine, there are there are risks associated, and I won’t go into each of the individual ones because I don’t want to particularly draw attention to anyone. But, we all understand that with any vaccine there are risk factors and they’re enumerated and they’re made available to people, and people make decisions about that.

JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]

PRIME MINISTER: I’ll let the Chief Medical Officer and others speak to those because they have the details. I’ve been informed of those cases and there have been other cases and, and they’re terribly tragic cases, like all of these are. And, I feel for their families in those situations. And, this is, this is the terrible impact that pandemics have, when you’re responding to pandemics. But, I do know that if vaccination rates, as we, as we see, particularly for those who are older, are not where we want them to be, then people’s lives are at risk.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said you take responsibility for the vaccine rollout. Are you sorry for the way, I guess, that you haven’t reached the mark that you originally hoped for?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes.

JOURNALIST: You were asked a number of times to say sorry yesterday. Why couldn’t you say that then? And, can you understand your reluctance in saying that, why people might think that perhaps you aren’t taking accountability?

PRIME MINISTER: I think I’ve been very clear that as Prime Minister I’m responsible for the vaccination program. And, I’ve also been very clear that that responsibility means fixing and dealing with the problems that we’ve had. And, that’s what we’ve been doing. And, the vaccination program has turned a, has turned the corner. The numbers that I’ve relayed to you, I think, are the proof points of that. It demonstrates that. So, I take responsibility for the things that haven’t gone as well as we’d liked, and I take responsibility for the things that have worked, as well. And, no country gets everything right. No Prime Minister gets everything right, as well. And, so my job is to keep getting on with the job.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can you clarify, just with AstraZeneca – sorry I know this is terrible …

PRIME MINISTER: I know, I’m listening hard.

JOURNALIST: I’m not a shouter, I’m going as hard as I can. Can you clarify with AstraZeneca, the Commonwealth has indemnified GPs?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, they’ve indemnified, the same applies to pharmacists, the indemnity.

JOURNALIST: So, pharmacists?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes.

JOURNALIST: What about the state vaccination clinics? Because, nurses give those injections in those …

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, that’s, that’s covered by states.

JOURNALIST: Sorry, sorry …

PRIME MINISTER: That’s covered by the states.

JOURNALIST: By the states?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: So, they have their own scheme?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, you have to address that to the states.

JOURNALIST: Just on the movement on the ATAGI board, does the removal of Chris Blythe and Allen Cheng have anything to do with this changing advice on AstraZeneca? And, are you happy with their performance?

PRIME MINISTER: Oh, look, I completely respect the advice of ATAGI. That’s why we’ve followed the advice of ATAGI. It’s my job as Prime Minister not just to simply accept advice uncritically. Whether it’s sitting in Cabinet meetings or, or in other forums, of course, I challenge the advice that I receive. I ask questions. I drill into it. You would expect me to do that. I think Australians would not expect me to just take this advice simply on the face of it. We must interrogate it. Leaders should do that. Ministers should do that. That has always been my approach, whether as a Minister and as a Prime Minister, and there are plenty of officials who work in this town who know that very, very well. But, I respect them all. I respect the job they do and I respect the way they engage with me on it. And, what I’m simply have been raising in relation to the ATAGI advice is that when it was provided initially and subsequently, in relation to those over 60, is that when that advice was provided they said it was based on the balance of risk of people getting COVID. Now, my simple point is that the balance of risk has shifted and therefore, based on the balance of that risk shifting, what, if any, is the change in the advice that ATAGI would provide. Because, I’m very concerned, very concerned that, of course, the advice that had come previously has caused some hesitation amongst people, particularly older people. Those people are now at risk, in south western Sydney in particular, but more broadly across Sydney, and I need AstraZeneca vaccines in their arms to protect them and their lives. And, no, it had nothing to do with any of those things, they’re completely unrelated. And, I thank them very much for their service and for their professionalism and, but asking questions of advisers is not disrespecting them. It’s my job.

JOURNALIST: Just clarifying where you’re at now on this advice then, because the ATAGI advice was to consult a GP. Now, people can skip that and go to a pharmacist. Is this you saying you’re no longer totally following that advice?

PRIME MINISTER: No.

JOURNALIST: And, will pharmacists be able to refuse simply on the basis they think it’s not safe for under 60s, as a lot of GPs have been doing to people, or will people be able to say, ‘No, I want the vaccine,’ to a pharmacist?

PRIME MINISTER: No one is forced to do anything in this country when it comes to this, and nor am I seeking to. And, I’m acting completely in accordance with the medical advice that has been provided. And, and there should be no suggestion that the Government is doing otherwise. People will make their own decisions. If they are legally able to go and get a vaccine and someone is legally able to provide that vaccine, and they can provide informed consent to that end, well, that is a matter between that pharmacist and that individual. What the Government has done is to support that ATAGI advice by making available, through the Medicare system, by paying for them to be able to go and have that consultant consultation with a GP. But, what we each do with our own health is our responsibility. And, how we seek to look after our own health is about decisions that we individually have to make. And, we’ve facilitated people being able to get the information and advice that they need in order to make their own decisions.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the Delta strain in New South Wales, New South Wales Health have hit every contact tracing target according to the national guidelines, in terms of the time between testing, they’re exceeding testing that, across the country. Yet, the Delta strain is still escaping them. They’re not able to suppress it.

PRIME MINISTER: Correct.

JOURNALIST: The transmission is occurring in places like supermarkets and pharmacies where people obviously have to continue to go to.

PRIME MINISTER: Correct.

JOURNALIST: Do we need to rethink how we deal with this Delta strain, if you have the gold standard contact tracers not being able to bring those numbers down?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that was exactly the point I was making yesterday, exactly the point. The Delta strain is proving a much tougher combatant than the Alpha strain and other strains of COVID-19. And, that’s why right now, whether it’s what they’re doing in South Australia or in Victoria or what’s been done in New South Wales, each of those jurisdictions – and I’m in constant contact with all of them, and we’ll discuss this more tomorrow at National Cabinet – are looking to ways that we can be most effective in combating the Delta strain. Can I tell you, there’s not a country in the world that’s cracked it, not a country in the world that has been able to be successful so far in suppressing the Delta strain. And, so, it’s a big challenge for all of us around the world. And, that’s the challenge that we have now and to work together to find the most effective ways to be able to suppress this while we remain in this suppression phase. And, so, that’s why it’s important, because of the risks that you highlight. That’s why it’s so important that people, particularly older people, go and get that AstraZeneca vaccine.

JOURNALIST: On the economic impact, the Treasurer said this morning, probably a contracted quarter for September. And, he said it’s costing the economy now $300 million a day, the current situation. A couple of questions. How long is that sort of drain sustainable? And, have you as a Government given any thought to producing a Budget Statement between now and MYEFO, just to update, you know, the impacts that this is obviously going to have?

PRIME MINISTER: Look, no, there’s no suggestion at this point from Treasury that that would be required between now and MYEFO. It is our sincere hope that we would see the lockdowns in, particularly in Victoria and in South Australia, be brief ones. And, I’m sure that’s the view of all Victorians and South Australians as well. And, that the, the events in Sydney, in particular, but as we now see, has moved into some regional locations. That’s obviously far more serious. New South Wales is our biggest economy and, of the state economies. And, we know that last year, the fact that New South Wales didn’t descend into those lockdowns that we saw in other places, that was a, that carried in many respects the national economy, that New South Wales didn’t fall victim to this last year. And, that is a great credit to the work that was done in New South Wales last year, that they were able to avoid those outcomes, both for people who live in New South Wales and indeed the national economy. That was a very positive outcome. So, yep, the Treasurer set out what those, what those current impacts are. I made it very clear yesterday that that’s going to have a significant impact on the, on the September quarter results. But, all of the, all of the economic advice and all of the business advice that I’m getting is that lockdowns come off, the businesses come back, people go back to work, as we demonstrated – a million people back into work, a million people back into work as the economy roared back last time. And, so, that gives me every confidence that we just hold these businesses through over the course of this lockdown and we’ll be able to do that again. And, I think that’s very important. But, saving those lives – 30,000 lives saved in this country. If we’d experienced the same rate of fatality in countries just like Australia that we’ve seen in Europe and overseas, 30,000 more Australians would be dead right now. Now, we’ve avoided that and we’re going to keep doing everything we can to avoid that. But, COVID is a tough customer. It keeps changing. We’ve got to keep changing with it. And, and these results that we’ve seen today of another record day of vaccinations, I think, just gives us hope going forward. But, it was really great to see that result in Queensland last night. Thanks very much.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43491

Press Conference - Canberra, ACT

21 July 2021

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Prime Minister: Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to The Lodge. The global pandemic has taken many turns over the course of these past more than 18 months. The challenge that governments, all governments have faced, all around the world, is to seek to understand these changes as quickly as we possibly can and adjust how we're dealing with those changes as quickly as we can to achieve the same goals that we've always had, and that is to save lives and to save livelihoods. The Delta strain of the COVID-19 pandemic is taking a heavy toll all around the world. What Australia is dealing with right now is no different to countries all around the world, whether it's in the United Kingdom where we're seeing around almost 50,000 cases a day, 94 deaths yesterday. We're seeing similar very high rates of infection in Indonesia. We're seeing it in the developing world. We're seeing it in the developed world. We're seeing lockdowns occur back in Singapore again. We've seen Netherlands open and shut within days of their freedom day. And, of course, we are seeing what is largely a very significant experiment occurring in the United Kingdom, as we see now, and we wish them the best. We wish every single country in the world all the best, and hope for the best, as they each wrestle with the very difficult challenges that have emerged with this most recent strain.

Now, this, of course, is impacting here in Australia. We have had great success in saving lives and livelihoods. I don't think anyone would contradict that. Some 30,000 lives at least saved in this country, a million people back into work, about 3.5 million people, in particular, supported through income supports last year, with unprecedented levels of economic intervention brought to bear by the Federal Government to see Australia through to now. State governments have put in place the world's best contact tracing systems. They've built up the capacity of their health systems to cope with surges in cases. And, as a result, as a country, we have had that success. But, the Delta strain is throwing another big challenge at our country. But, we're up to it and we'll deal with it, just as we've dealt with each and every one of these challenges to date.

So, it is important, to all Australians out there today - whether they're in Sydney, whether they're in Orange, whether they're across in South Australia today, or right across Victoria, and particularly in the suburbs most affected. It's tough and it's going to continue to be tough in the weeks ahead, and potentially months ahead, as we continue to wrestle with this new strain of this virus and we adapt our responses to fight it, just as we have with every other episode that we've gone through as we've responded to the coronavirus pandemic all around the world.

Now, today, once again, we are hitting new marks with our vaccination programme. I'll be open with you, we've had our challenges with this programme. We've had significant challenges with this programme, as many countries have. But, what matters is how you respond to them. What matters is how you fix the things that need to be fixed and get the programme doing what it needs to be doing, and hitting the vaccination rates it needs to hit to ensure that we can get to where we need to be, where we want to be. Today, with the most recent seven days data, we've finally hit that mark of a million doses in arms, in a week. We've been working towards that now for weeks. A few weeks back, we were in the 700,000s and the 800,000s. Well, now, Australia, you've got us to a million a week.

In this same week, we've seen a million doses of Pfizer turn up, and we've gone from 300,000 doses a week escalating to a million doses coming every week with Pfizer. And, we started that process of securing that bring forward of supply back in May of this year. And, so, we're pleased to see those come through.

I particularly want to thank the GP network and all of those working in vaccination all around the country that is enabling us to hit these marks. And, it does mean that at these rates of vaccination we will get to where we want to get to. The supply is increasing, the points of presence increasing - 320 new GP presence, points of presence, for Pfizer established this week. More pharmacies coming online with AstraZeneca to support the effort where there aren't sufficient GPs in those places, and Lieutenant General Frewen bringing on more pharmacies as we go into the weeks and into the months ahead as the supply continues to support those changes.

So, a million doses in seven days. We're at another, almost another record day today in the total number of vaccines delivered in a day, and that is at 174,589. So, that's what we have to keep doing to hit the marks that we need to keep hitting to ensure that we can put Australia in the best possible position that we can be in as we continue to combat the Delta strain. But, the tools we've used to fight the virus in the past, such as the contact tracing and the QR codes and all of this, the Delta strain has thrown new challenges at that. And, as a result, the lockdown measures that have been put in place we will continue working with and adjusting and changing as we need to to get them right to ensure we can both save lives and save livelihoods, and do all we can to minimise the burden on the Australian population.

But, as we are seeing around the country, around the world, even with countries that have higher vaccination rates than Australia and New Zealand, that have similar vaccination rates on double doses, and in fact, our first doses are far higher, all around the world they're dealing with the challenges of Delta, and so are we. The economic impact of this, of course, will be a heavy blow, but it's not a blow we can't recover from. And, how do I know that? Because last year when we faced the same heavy blow, we turned it around and got a million people back into work. So, we know how to see our economy recover. I remember at the time I was criticised for saying that the economy will come back strongly. Well, the economy did come back strongly. We put the supports in place to enable that, and it worked. And, it'll work again once we come through these lockdowns. Then, whether it's in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, those economies will return to growth. People will go back to work. People will go back and buy things in the shops. The sites will open again and the economy will come back to life very, very quickly.

That said, the supply chain disruption, the impacts on confidence, the fall in job ads, which is to be expected in these circumstances, we anticipate will have an impact on, obviously, the September quarter GDP, and will have a near-term impact on employment. It is impossible to avoid it when you've got lockdowns running at the rate we're seeing across three states right now. And, so, we do anticipate that. I spoke to the Governor of the Reserve Bank only this week and the Deputy Governor with the Treasurer, and they share an outlook as we do, and that is while these impacts of the lockdowns will be here in this quarter, in the quarter that follows, should we continue to be on the path we're on, in increasing our resilience, then we can expect that to turnaround in the December quarter.

Finally, I want to make a number of points about payments - the $600 and $375 payments that are available to individuals. These payments are the same level of payment that was being provided in the December quarter last year of JobKeeper, exactly the same. The only difference is they're being paid by the Government direct, not through your employer. And these, the design of these payments is designed to support the lockdowns in encouraging people to be able to stay at home where they have to be at home as a result of these lockdowns. They're there to support that health initiative. When you go through a pandemic or in any sort of policy challenge, you don't address last year's challenges. You address today's challenges. And, today's challenge with these lockdowns is very different to what the Treasurer and I and the Government were confronted with last March and April when we put JobKeeper in place. That was a national scheme that went across all businesses in Australia and it was designed with the prospect of having Australia in that situation for at least six months, which indeed it was in. And, it needed the scale of that type of initiative to be able to deliver that support. We need to be able to turn this on and turn this off quite quickly. And, with the method that we've chosen, we are able to do just that.

To give you an indication, what we are experiencing currently today is some 70,000 claims per day. We saw $32 million paid out in support in the last 24 hours alone. In New South Wales, we have already provided 452,395 grants of support; $219 million is already out the door. So, this support is coming swiftly and it is being done principally through the online distribution of Services Australia, where I thank Australians that some 93 per cent of claims are being handled online. We’re seeing payments made, as some of your own colleagues have observed, within 40 minutes of that claim being undertaken or indeed being paid the next day. We’ve put in place a system of payments that is designed to be swift.

Now, let me run through how that's running in each of the states, because it's now exactly the same in all states. In all states, people are, that are affected by the lockdowns, where there's a Commonwealth hotspot definition put in place, the payments are being provided statewide through the partnership that I've been able to put in place with each of the state premiers, most recently last night with Premier Marshall. So, it's the same right across all the states of the states affected by lockdowns. The payments as you know are $600 for 20 hours lost in the period of the previous week, and $375 if it's less than 20 hours and more than eight or a days week, a full day of work lost in the course of that week. You make your claim at the end of the week based on what happened during that week. The payments are then made in arrears, and importantly now, importantly now, when you're registering for these new payments - and so that was from last Friday for those first who went onto those payments in Sydney, and Sunday for the rest of the state. And, now those who'll be making them on the 23rd in Victoria and the 28th in South Australia - those payments will be recurring. So, you don't need to go in and reclaim every single week. If you're registered for the payment, then you're registered for it to recur each week.

Now, we ask you to keep us up to date with any changes in your circumstances. You may be in a position where you no longer need those payments and you've got hours back. Equally, you may be in a position where previously you were losing less than 20 hours a week, but now you're losing more than 20 hours a week. You can go online, you can update your application for that payment, and it is recurring. We're doing this because we want people who are experiencing these lockdowns and suffering these economic losses to know that each week those payments are going to turn up in your bank account and you can count on it. You don't have to apply again. You don't have to worry about it. There's plenty of other things I know you have to worry about. I don't want you to have to worry about that. So, those payments will keep turning up every week the lockdowns continue to roll. Of course, when the lockdowns are lifted, well, that's when the payments are no longer necessary, and people, hopefully they go straight back to work. People go back to the economy moving forward, and they will be able to be in a position of being supported by their employment.

So, that gives you a bit of an update where we're at. Happy to take questions across a range of different issues. But, of course, let's start with COVID.

Journalist: Prime Minister, given that more than half the population is in lockdown and the situation in Sydney is getting worse, will you consider directly appealing to ATAGI to change their medical advice on AstraZeneca and open it up to 50s and over on the basis that that decision was made when the country was in a very different situation to what it is in now?

Prime Minister: It's a constant appeal, I can assure you. It's a constant appeal that the situation that Australia faces should be managed on the balance of risk, as ATAGI has said to me in the past. When they made the decision to restrict or to have a preference for those under the age ultimately of 60 to have the Pfizer vaccine, they said they made that decision on the balance of risk. Well, it's for them to now constantly reconsider how that balance of risk applies and provide their advice accordingly. I do note, though, that there are tens of thousands, particularly of those under the age of 40 - I think it's about 32,000 or thereabouts since I made some remarks about this a little while back - they've gone to their doctor, they've had a chat with them, and they've had the AstraZeneca vaccine through informed consent. Now, that is available to all Australians to have that discussion with your doctor and to have informed consent. That's what the medical advice is. TGA has given their approval for the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and we are encouraging states, just like Victoria did. Victoria pumped an extra 300,000 AstraZeneca vaccines into their state through their state-based clinics, particularly going back several weeks where that was really lifted. So, I would encourage states to be using the AstraZeneca vaccines, to be dispensing them through those state-based clinics to get as many people vaccinated as possible. And, I commend the Victorian Government for the way that they've led the way on that.

Journalist: Prime Minister, just continuing on the AstraZeneca issue. Yes, it is available to younger people to have that conversation. But, the messaging has been very confusing. Is it time to be much more direct with some kind of campaign to encourage people to get AstraZeneca? And, also, Gladys Berejiklian today accused the Federal Government of not giving enough AstraZeneca to GPs. Is that a problem? Are we not giving them enough? And, is New South Wales ordering enough for its own state clinics?

Prime Minister: Well, no, there is significant, there is significant quantities of AstraZeneca vaccine going out through the GP network. I mean, that is the principal network through that is occurring. I would like to see more AstraZeneca vaccines being distributed through the state-based clinics, like Victoria has been able to achieve. Why? Because I know this vaccination rates, the Victorian experience has proved that.

When it comes to the other issues, of course, the ATAGI advice, the TGA advice, I’ll always be very respectful of that. But, I could not be more clearer, I think, that every Australian above the age for which vaccines are available should be having those discussions with their doctors. We know that in other countries the AstraZeneca vaccine, particularly the UK, has been the primary vaccine through which they've been able to achieve the vaccination levels they are at. So, I would encourage them to do that. I know many people who have in my sphere of contacts. I know you probably know many as well. And, that is a discussion you have to have with your doctor. I am not your doctor and therefore I would not be giving you medical advice. You should take that advice from your doctor. I can only tell you what the policy settings are, and I think the policy settings are very clear.

Journalist: Prime Minister, specifically to follow up on those first two questions. Gladys Berejiklian and Brad Hazzard today, particularly Brad Hazzard, said they need more Pfizer in New South Wales. Has the Federal Government given any thought to giving extra Pfizer - not just bringing forward - to New South Wales or to Victoria or in addition to South Australia, given the outbreaks there? And, secondly, on Pfizer, last night I was reading your Facebook page. You have about 800,000 followers. You put up a message about a million doses a week coming in. A lot of people were angry. One thing really stood out - the number of women over the age of 60 saying, ‘I don't want AstraZeneca, I want Pfizer. When can I get Pfizer?’ What is your message to those women, to the people who are hesitant about AstraZeneca?

Prime Minister: Well, we have two vaccines and we'll soon have a third with Moderna. My message is that people should be getting vaccinated as soon as possible with the vaccines that are available for them to get vaccinated. That is, that is my message. And, that is what I think is in Australia's public health interests. If you're vaccinated, you're at less risk to yourself, to your family, to your community and indeed the nation. And, so, I would encourage people to have the vaccines that are available to them. And, we can't mandate that. That's not the way we do things in this country. People will make their own choices. I totally respect that. The additional Pfizer vaccines that are now coming in at a million a week is obviously going to increase then the supply of those vaccines, particularly to states and territories. When the Premier contacted me several weeks ago in New South Wales, she asked if she could get additional vaccines, and that was her priority. She had an answer that same night, I believe, and followed through the next morning that they were getting an additional brought forward 150,000 supply of Pfizer and 150,000 of AstraZeneca, which I'm not aware has actually been utilised. I haven't caught up on those details.

Journalist: She said today, PM, she specifically said today we need more Pfizer. So, following that discussion …

Prime Minister: More and more Pfizer is going out to all of the states and territories because we have a national vaccination challenge. Of course, we have specific challenges in Sydney, particularly in south west Sydney where the rate of vaccination had been much lower. The rate of vaccination overall, even before going into the lockdown, was lower in New South Wales than it was in Victoria and some other states. That said, all states need to lift their vaccination rates. There is more Pfizer coming in. We started that process of getting those brought forward supplies back in May when I, when I directly contacted the head of Pfizer at that time with Minister Hunt, and we worked on that plan and we've had that brought forward. That means more states will be getting more Pfizer. But, my message to Australians today is, take the vaccines, please, that are available to you now. Discuss them with your doctor. That's what has occurred in my family. Jenny got her second dose last week of AstraZeneca. Both my, my parents, sorry my mother and my mother-in-law, they've both done the same thing. I'd say the same thing to you that I say to my own family.

Journalist: Prime Minister, you mentioned the impact on September GDP. You're expecting there to be some impact. How much worse would that be if we weren't still seeing the same elevated iron ore price? And, businesses are obviously really suffering in, all across the country. Can you confirm JobKeeper absolutely is not going to come back, it's not going to be extended, to let it go?

Prime Minister: Well, again, you solve the problem with the policy responses you need that's in front of you. I'm not trying to solve last year's problem. That's what JobKeeper solved. I'm trying to solve the issues and provide the economic supports directly to individuals fast. You'll recall that when we put JobKeeper in place it took four to six weeks, four to six weeks in order for the system to be rolled out, for businesses to go to their banks to get the loans for their cash flow, to then, to then actually make the payments to those who are working with them, and to work through that process. I don't have six weeks. I need to make sure that we've got $200 million out the door now, which is exactly what we've done. So, we will continue to tailor our responses of economic supports to meet the challenge we have now. Now, we have a broad range of other tools. We're continuing to consider what they are, if additional supports are needed. States and territories, unlike this time last year, are also stepping up to the plate in terms of their economic supports, which they agreed to do some weeks ago when I got them together at National Cabinet. I welcome that. South Australian Government has announced measures to support business there today, as has the Victorian Government, as has the New South Wales Government. I'd say in New South Wales, the most significant of all the states in rolling out those business supports. And, of course, there is the additional arrangement there that we're co-funding to, with them, to the tune of half a billion dollars a week. So, we need to address the cash flow challenges of businesses to get through what are hopefully short-term lockdowns in the other states, in Victoria and South Australia. And, as the stubborn situation persists in New South Wales, then we continue to provide the supports to business to get them through, and to ensure that individuals get payments. I mean, I can only refer you to what Dan Andrews said just in the last 24 hours - it's basically JobKeeper by another distribution method. And, what matters is people are getting economic support. They get it timely, that it's proportionate, that it's targeted, and it's there when they need it, and that's what's coming off. Look, the Budget is comprised of, on its revenue, of many different elements, and it's very difficult to segregate that out to individual factors. What we're seeing in this current quarter is you’ll of course see a hit to GDP because of the lockdowns. I mean, that is impossible to ignore and it's impossible to avoid. All the supports that we're providing are not designed as replacement income. They never were, and neither was JobKeeper. They're there to provide people with that income support, that economic and cash flow support for businesses that enables them to get on this bridge to the other side of the lockdowns, so on the other side they can open up and they can get going again, keeping our businesses whole as best as we can, and ensuring people are supported with the income they need to get through these more difficult times. Phil.

Journalist: What is the latest estimate you've got from Treasury and or the RBA on the hit to GDP this quarter? And, what's underpinning their confidence that we’ll rebound in the December quarter and avoid a second recession, given the uncertainty of the situation we're going to find ourselves in? What are they assuming is going to happen between now ...

Prime Minister: Well, there are no official estimates at this point, Phil, so I wouldn't be offering what are only sort of speculative positions at this time. But, clearly, it's going to have a significant impact in this quarter, and we'll wait and see what that is. And, those numbers won't come through till much longer. But, the fact is, people are already experiencing that. They won't have to wait for the numbers to come out, you know, many months from now to know what it meant to businesses in this quarter. Businesses will, and employees and those who have lost hours, will already know what that is. And, that will become clearer as the months roll past and the data comes in. The confidence that is being expressed by both Treasury and the Reserve Bank is the confidence of experience of what we've already seen occur. Now, I've also had quite a lot of direct engagement with business leaders recently, as has the Treasurer, and it's the same issue. And, that is, the economy in Australia is fundamentally resilient and strong. And, you know, you don't get a million people back into work after the biggest pandemic the world has seen in 100 years, and to do so ahead of almost every other country in the world, if your fundamentals in your economy are not strong going into it and remaining strong, as we've seen demonstrated with both the GDP data and the employment data, particularly over most recent quarters. So, that resilience and that strength is there. That is why it's our task, what the Treasurer and I and the Cabinet are seeking to do is ensure, and with the premiers, to ensure that the economic supports we are providing, to the best we can, brings those companies through, and that we hopefully see those lockdowns end as soon as they possibly can. And, that's what gives them confidence that as you go through this quarter and into the next, that you're able to have those lockdowns end. You will see, as we've already seen in the past, businesses come back and come back strongly, and hopefully pick up some lost ground.

Journalist: Prime Minister, could I just ask a couple of non-COVID questions?

Prime Minister: I’m going to stay with COVID, but I will come back to you.

Journalist: Prime Minister, you recently had a conversation with the Global Chief of Pfizer. What was your purpose in that conversation, and were there any tangible outcomes?

Prime Minister: Following up our earlier representations, to appreciate the bring forward that we were able to achieve in working with him and the entire Pfizer organisation, particularly here in Australia, to continue to get a further understanding of what their global production levels were, and to continue working on, as has been our practise the entire time, to keep seeking to bring forward our supplies. That's a function of global production levels.

Journalist: Was he encouraging?

Prime Minister: Well, that will be evidenced only in what the outcomes are. And, so, once that, once the doses are on planes, then that's when I'll count them. And this, this week, a million doses on planes.

Journalist: Prime Minister, can you tell us specifically what you are doing to try and increase vaccine supplies? Are you having conversations with Moderna as well as Pfizer to try and bring forward supplies? And, can you tell us whether that will make any difference to getting out of these current lockdowns? And, just in regards to your comments on ATAGI, can you confirm whether you have spoken directly to the Chair of ATAGI with that, as you say, that appeal?

Prime Minister: Look, there are appropriate conversations that are had with the head of ATAGI, and they're done through the Secretary of Health, and the Chief Medical Officer. And, that's where the dialogue occurs between our regulators and, and the Prime Minister. In the same way, I don't have conversations with other regulators, be they APRA or others, about those sort of specific issues. I don't think ATAGI’s in any doubt about the Government's view on these issues. When I spoke to Allen Cheng about these issues, when he was chairing ATAGI and he was presenting to us on those matters, then I relayed those, those sentiments at that time. And, so, I need them to get on and do their job. We'll get on and do our job. Everybody, I think, is acting in good faith in the best interests of the country, and everybody respects each other and the roles that they have, as I indeed do, ATAGI, and the TGA and Professor Murthy and Professor Kelly, and the many others who are involved in this process - Dr Kennedy, Dr Lowe and many others. And, so, we have very professional, I think, very effective relationships, and that's how we’ll continue to pursue these, these very significant challenges.

Journalist: [Inaudible]

Prime Minister: We're working across all the supply chains.

Journalist: [Inaudible]

Prime Minister: Well, fundamentally, no. And, just ask people in Singapore the same question. I mean, their vaccination rates are higher than in Australia. Ask the people in the Netherlands, ask the people in other countries. That was my point in opening today's press conference. The Delta strain is a new challenge and the whole world is wrestling with it. Countries that thought they could open up within days are shutting down. Now, there are many elements to what builds our resilience, but the difficulty right now is getting the right set of policy tools about how you can deal with outbreaks that occur in Delta. An outbreak under Delta is different to dealing with an outbreak under Alpha. I remember when we had Alpha outbreaks earlier this year in Queensland and we didn't know what the Alpha strain was going to look like. And, Queensland and other states moved quite early, and I remember applauding them at the time. And, thankfully, that virus strain did not prove to be as invidious as this one did. And, as a result, we were able to know that under the Alpha strain, contact tracing, QR codes, all of those mechanisms are proved up to the task of being able to managing those strains. Delta is providing a different challenge, not just to countries like Australia, but in the United Kingdom, across Europe, in the United States we're only now starting to see the Delta variant get into their system and how that plays out there. We've already seen states start to bring in new restrictions and, of course, their vaccination rates are higher. Now, what I do know is this. If you're vaccinated, you're less likely to contract it, you're less likely to transmit it, you're less likely to get very sick, and you're less likely to die. They’re four pretty good reasons.

Journalist: Sorry, Prime Minister, do you have any update on when the Doherty Institute? Well, sorry, my accent is ...

Prime Minister: No, no, it’s more the mask, your accent is fine.

Journalist: Ask SBS for some subtitles. Prime Minister, do you have any update on when the Doherty Institute will finalise its vaccine threshold data, and do you have confidence that the premiers will accept those vaccine thresholds for opening up?

Prime Minister: Well, very good questions. The first question is there's been no change to what I updated you on last Friday from Sydney, and we're expecting that that information to be completed by the end of this month. And, I only had a further update on that in the last 24 hours. And, they’re still on track for that, and looking forward to receiving that information. Remember, that information then needs to be combined with the advice of Treasury’s to understand the economic issues that are relevant to the setting of these, these thresholds and the benchmarks, and also looking at the health system capacity as well and the role that can play in the tolerance of managing the risk. See, what Doherty is able to give to us is a sense of what the risk profile is at various levels of vaccination, and not just at the top line level of vaccination. You know, we’re at 14.5 per cent today, but we're over, you know, at for the over 70s, you know, 75 per cent and more have had first doses there as well. So, it's about vulnerable populations and their vaccination levels. You know, we need to look at this right across the country. As you've all already noted, there are different rates of vaccination around the country, even now by state, let alone potentially at lower levels as what we've seen in south western Sydney more recently. So, they will help us understand the risk that exists at various levels of vaccination. And, I'm, I welcome the statistics, most recently from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which shows 70 per cent of Australians are not hesitant. They're happy to have the vaccine. And, a lot of our messaging to them is the issues of convenience, points of presence, why you should do it now, and, you know, that ATAGI advice has already said four to 12 weeks for your second dose on AstraZeneca. Very much welcome that advice, and encouraging people to basically walk through the open door. They're in a position to be able to do that. So, that is why Doherty is really important to help inform those decisions. Now, to the best of my knowledge, Australia - I think Singapore is another example of this, perhaps in South Korea - we are one of the few countries in the world that is scientifically trying to determine what this is, before taking the next step of easing what those restrictions would be and how lockdowns, which shouldn't be happening in that next phase, and how that will work. Because, as we said, we've had other countries, the Dutch - I'm not criticising them, it's, no country has a perfect record on any of these things. No country has got everything right. That's the nature of dealing with an issue like this. But, we don't want to be in a situation where you start it and then two days’ later you're not able to proceed with it. And, so, we have to be careful. Now, I know we've been careful in Australia. I know my Government has been careful when it comes to the authorisation of vaccines in this country. And, I know that in Australia those approvals were given later than they were in other countries. But, I also have a responsibility to ensure Australians are kept safe before we put millions and millions of doses in people's arms. Then it was important that that process was done the way we regulate all vaccines in this country, so people can have confidence about the health treatment they’re receiving in this country. The premiers and the chief ministers, well, these are big decisions for leaders. We will certainly have a view and I'll certainly be articulating my view based on the sound economic, health and epidemiological advice that we receive and the scientific modelling that's there to support those decisions. But, we need to know what those targets are. And, I look forward to telling Australia what those targets are to get to step two, to get to step three, to get to step four. How soon we get there is up to all of us. Mark.

Journalist: So, Prime Minister, on that issue of nobody being perfect, you had a very interesting exchange on FM radio this morning. I think a lot of people have been scratching their heads. Why is it that you so firmly believe the Government doesn't need to say sorry about anything in relation to the failings of the vaccine rollout?

Prime Minister: I think, I think Australians just want us to get it right. And, no country's got their pandemic response 100 per cent. And, I think Australians understand that. And, Australia, despite saving more than 30,000 lives and getting a million people back into work and providing economic supports at its peak to around 3.5 million people, and what we've been able to achieve together, I think Australians accept that. I know Australians would like the vaccination program to be further advanced than it is now. But, I can tell you, based on the plan that was agreed and adopted by both my Cabinet and endorsed by the National Cabinet last year, we’re about two months behind where that otherwise will be, and it may even be less than that by the time we get to the end of this year. And, so, those delays are regrettable. We all know they were a result of many factors. People have perfect hindsight after these events. But, let's remember, we were focusing on vaccines that we knew could be manufactured in Australia. This was very important. No one's making Pfizer outside of this country other than those who were making it before. And, so, a series of decisions were taken. And, don't forget, when Pfizer, at that stage, like last year, we were talking about sub 70 degree temperatures to store and transport this. Now, we're a big country. Our most vulnerable populations were in remote and regional areas and Indigenous communities. We needed vaccines that we'd be able to transport and move around the country far and wide. So, there were many factors that were being worked through by our medical experts, by the Cabinet, as we, as we advanced that plan. Sure, there's going to be plenty of critics in hindsight. They'll have various motivations for doing it. But, what Australians, I think, want from me, is to make sure we make up that ground, we hit these marks that we're hitting, and that we are hitting those marks and they want me to, I take responsibility for the problems we've had, but I'm also taking responsibility for the solutions we're putting in place and the vaccination rates that we're now achieving.

Journalist: Thank you, I've got a couple of questions.

Prime Minister: I’m sorry we’re still on COVID. I’m sorry COVID is, but that’s what I’m here to address, COVID.

Journalist: Prime Minister, if ATAGI doesn't change its advice …

Prime Minister: Sorry, I can’t hear you.

Journalist: If ATAGI doesn't change its advice, when do you expect that all Australians that want a jab would have their second dose? And, once they are able to have that opportunity, would you support measures such as vaccines certificates to make sure that people can go to events at full capacity next year? 

Prime Minister: Well, these are all the things that we'll consider in those various step changes - step two, step three. We already have vaccine certificates. They already exist. And, those vaccine certificates, this month, we expect to be in a form that can be dropped into Apple Wallets, things of that nature. And, later in the year, about October we estimate, we'll have a vaccination certificate that will be able to be used, internationally recognised, to facilitate when people are moving out of the country and into the country, being able to recognise others’ certificates. That's something that has been a common feature of the conversations I've been having with other leaders - when APEC has been meeting, when G7 has been meeting. This is a very practical thing that we've been talking about. Now, where we have to get to is that we get as many people vaccinated as possible. We believe that we have the supply - subject to any external shocks that still could impact anyone’s systems - we believe, by the end of the year, that those who wish to have the vaccine will have had the opportunity to do that. What the level of vaccinations will be, will be a function of how many Australians take that up, and we'll be seeking to maximise that as much as possible. An important way of motivating people to do that, which is why I'm so keen to get this advice and to be able to put those vaccination rates on when we can get to step two and be very clear with the states about what step two means, I think that will give Australians things to work towards and to go towards. And, you know, we're not a country that mandates vaccines, and we’re a country that respects the individual rights and liberties of our citizens. But, at the same time, we have to act in accordance with public health. And, if by the end of the year everybody has had that opportunity to have a vaccine, by not having that vaccine, well, they're putting their own health at risk, the health of their families at risk, and the health of their communities at risk.

Journalist: Thank you, Prime Minister. You don't need me to tell you that since your last press conference Victoria's extended its lockdown, South Australia has gone into lockdown and the situation in New South Wales isn't getting any better. We have businesses crying for JobKeeper to be reinstated and there's growing criticism that you're an absent leader and that you're passing the buck. Is that true, Prime Minister? Are you an absent leader?

Prime Minister: No.

Journalist: Just on no jab, we don't mandate vaccines in this country, but you, I believe it was Social Services Minister, when ‘no jab, no play’ came in, which is about as close as you can get to mandating vaccines. So, why wouldn't you take that approach? Just, to follow up this question …

Prime Minister: Well, I didn’t say we wouldn’t. I’d say ...

Journalist: Well, why not take up the French approach where we've got a tiny minority protesting and millions of extra people now getting vaccines?

Prime Minister: My record, as you've outlined it, is true. So, I think, you know where, I think you, my record speaks to my disposition on these things, but they're not things that the Prime Minister or even the Federal Government decides. Ultimately, restrictions that will be placed on people moving about in their states can only be imposed by states. The Commonwealth Government can't do that. Only the state governments can place restrictions on people entering a venue, entering a place of work, things like this. There are also industrial relations issues here that apply as well. They can apply the public health orders that mandate vaccinations, like the Western Australian Premier has done in terms of quarantine-based workers. They have those powers. They can implement them. I can provide them with the tools that helps them to implement them, like the digital vaccine certificates and things of that nature, and they could employ them. That's why we've kept them well up to date with how those mechanisms, those systems are working.

Journalist: Prime Minister, you spoke earlier about wanting the states to deliver more AstraZeneca through their state-run hubs. You also spoke earlier about challenges that the rollout has faced. One of those challenges has been the miscommunication over AstraZeneca. States aren’t wanting AstraZeneca because of hesitancy. So, do you concede one of the challenges has been your own Government’s miscommunication around AstraZeneca and whether or not people should take it?

Prime Minister: Well, I'm not, I cannot control what ATAGI advises. They are an independent, they are an …

Journalist: [Inaudible]

Prime Minister: So, are you suggesting that the Government, when advised by the Technical and Advisory Group on Immunisation, some of the most senior level scientific medicos in the country, tell the Government that the preferred vaccine for people of particular ages is 50, and then they changed it to 60, that the Government should refuse that advice?

Journalist: You've just said there's a constant appeal, though, for them to change that advice.

Prime Minister: Well, sure, but they're the ones …

Journalist:  What’s different about then as opposed to now?

Prime Minister: No, no, they’re the ones who make medical assessments, scientific assessments about what's in the health interests of Australians. Now, all through this, all through this, we have listened carefully and been guided by that medical advice. So, if you're seriously suggesting that the Government should have neglected medical advice in the handling of the pandemic …

Journalist:  But, you’re asking …

Prime Minister: No, I’m sorry, that is exactly what you're suggesting.

Journalist: Prime Minister, you’re asking for …

Prime Minister: That is not something that I would accept as a viable proposition. Thank you.

Journalist: Prime Minister, just a couple of questions, non-COVID. Firstly, on Afghanistan. It’s obviously a very difficult decision to withdraw all Australian personnel from Afghanistan.

Prime Minister: Yep.

Journalist: Under what conditions would you send personnel back? And, secondly, if I may, what assurances can you give the taxpayers of Australia that should, should they lend some money to Telstra to buy Digicel Pacific that they would not be, it would not be at a loss, and what strategic benefit would that purchase have?

Prime Minister: Well, I'm not going to speculate on the latter point. They’re market matters for companies on, I’ll leave that to the Managing Director of Telstra. That's a matter between him and his shareholders. They have commercial objectives which they pursue, and I wouldn't expect them to be doing anything that wasn't in their commercial interests, and that's what shareholders look to. And, I'm sure that's what they'll do. But, they should, they'll make those decisions, individual shareholders, in concert with their financial advisers, who are properly accredited to provide that advice. And, I think that's the way that that should occur.

On the other matter, we've always made it very clear that were we in a position to safely have Australians in Afghanistan and providing support to our efforts there, then we would. And, so, were it safe to do that, we have always been open to the opportunity to pursue that. And, that's what we would do. I'd also note that we are making progress on ensuring that those who helped us in Afghanistan, we're getting to Australia. Already, 252 Australians, sorry Afghan nationals, have been able, we've been able to bring to Australia, both, that's them and their families. And, we are making real steady progress through the many others. And, we've spent quite a lot of time on this, as you'd expect us to do, through the National Security Committee, working with the Immigration Minister. Where necessary, if we have to have facilitated commercial flights to bring them to Australia, I know Australians would support that. There are two programmes. There's the locally engaged employee programme, and that is the one I'm referring to now. But, where there are those who don't qualify that, for that programme, we’ll be ensuring that they also have direct access going into the humanitarian programme. So, you know, if one channel is not open because of the rules of that programme, and those rules are important - there are important health, security and other issues. I can assure you, it's not a simple process to do that in a country like Afghanistan at the moment. And, we're working with IOM and our other partners to do those medical checks. I'm sure Australians would expect us. I mean, it would be, I think, unlikely that anyone who'd been a locally engaged employee, for health reasons wouldn't be allowed to come to Australia. Certainly, if there were security reasons then I'm sure all Australians would agree that we wouldn't do that. But, those instances have so far been very, very limited, and we are making good progress. There is still more work to do. It has a great urgency on both the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Defence who’ve been involved in certifying those who are eligible to make applications. And, then, of course, the Department of Home Affairs and the Immigration Minister working through the visa process, and then the logistics exercise of getting people to Australia, which, as I said already, 252 individuals and their families have been able to come under that programme. So, I look forward to having more to say, as does the Immigration Minister, on that in the weeks ahead. But, we are making steady progress and we are very thankful for the support we've received. And, as soon as we're able to have Australians in Afghanistan in a diplomatic capacity to support our efforts there, and when it's safe to do so, it's a matter I’ve discussed with other leaders, particularly when I was at the G7, and I hope we'll be able to do that at an early opportunity. But, only if it’s safe. Thank you all very much.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43487

Address, International Olympic Committee (IOC)

21 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Thank you John and thank you for your great service. President Bach, and Members of the International Olympic Committee. I’m speaking to you from Australia and it’s our tradition in Australia – when we gather together – to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of our land.

It reminds us of the timelessness of our land.

And it helps us understand the arc of history, and that we must care for each other and care for our country as our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have done for so long.

So I acknowledge Australia’s Indigenous peoples – as well as the first nation peoples amongst all nations – and I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

Today, I’m honoured to be speaking to you as Prime Minister of Australia, but also as Chair of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Candidature Leadership Group.

I speak to you on behalf of 25 million sports loving Australians.

With the wholehearted support of all three levels of government – and all sides of politics.

We know what it takes to deliver a successful games – that’s why I want to pay tribute to everyone who has worked so hard to bring together the Tokyo Games.

These have been terribly uncertain times for the whole world.

We all know of the health and economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, that continues to this day.

Though we’ve been separated and distanced, we’ve worked together, as John was just saying, to respond to this global challenge.

Friday’s Opening Ceremony will be another step in humanity’s shared journey back.

It’s been a huge effort to get there.

Many sacrifices have been made – by the athletes and their families, coaches and support staff, as well as the Games organisers, of course – and the people of Japan.

So I offer my warmest congratulations to of course, Prime Minister Suga, and of course the Tokyo Organising Committee, the Japanese Government and the City of Tokyo as well as the International Olympic Committee.

Yes, these games are different.

But they are a Games that will say to history: despite setbacks, despite obstacles, we persevered.

I’m proud to say that more than 480 Australian athletes are in Tokyo.

For the first time ever, women make up over half of the Australian team.

And there are a record number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander athletes.

New Wimbledon champ – Ash Barty is one.

Basketballer Patty Mills is another.

And Patty will be the first Indigenous Australian to carry our national flag at the Opening Ceremony.

And he’ll be joined by four-time Olympian Cate Campbell – the first female swimmer to receive this honour for Australia.

And in August, some 180 Australian paralympians will make their own history in Tokyo.

Australians everywhere are looking forward to the moment the cauldron is lit.

No matter the hour, we’ll be crowded around our screens here in Australia.

Cheering on our athletes – sending our hopes across the oceans.

We’ve always had a special relationship with the Games.

We’ve participated in every modern Summer Olympic Games – one of only two countries in the world to have done so.

As well as every single Paralympic Games.

We’ve hosted the Olympic Games twice before – Melbourne 1956 and Sydney 2000.

The Olympic ethos and values, they resonate Down Under.

We’re an outward looking and welcoming people – one of the most successful multicultural nations on earth.

Australians come together from nearly 200 countries.

We have over 300 different ethnic backgrounds.

And we speak over 300 different languages in our homes.

We’re like a giant-sized Olympic Village – all together!

The Olympic Games are about bringing the world together – and we want to welcome the world to our shores, and share all the things that make this country such a great country.

We’ve got a proud tradition of volunteering, also.

You saw that in Sydney two decades ago.

Seventy-four thousand volunteers. All smiles.

Everyone wanted to contribute – to give rather than to get.

It’s a legacy Australia hopes to build upon in 2032.

My Government is proud to be supporting this opportunity for Brisbane and Southeast Queensland.

The Australian and Queensland governments are fully funding the infrastructure projects to be delivered in preparation for the Games – ensuring they deliver for Brisbane 2032, but also leave a lasting legacy.

We understand the importance of long-term planning.

Should Brisbane be selected today, the 10+10 concept would see us begin our investments immediately – a win–win for the Brisbane region, Southeast Queensland, and the Olympic Games.

My Government has also committed to provide medical services, customs, immigration and a range of other support measures at no cost.

Southeast Queensland is a vibrant and growing part of Australia – with a highly encouraged business community.

Together, with our significant government investment, I know the Brisbane Games will be built on a strong economic foundation.

You can draw confidence from Australia’s track record of delivering major sporting and global events – that the Brisbane Games will be safe and secure in our hands.

As you know, we also take integrity in sport very seriously in Australia.

We believe passionately in a fair go – and provide significant funding and support to organisations that administer integrity programs.

And we have proven governance structures that enable us to work with organisers, international sports federations and governing bodies at major international sporting events.

As a people, we’re guided by an abiding belief in human dignity.

Our belief in human rights will be reflected in the Brisbane Games’ sustainability, sourcing and workforce strategies.

Our hope is that the benefits of the Games will extend beyond Australia.

We have a special affinity with the many nations of Oceania.

They are our Pacific family.

We’re currently providing vaccines, working alongside them, in so many of these nations right now.

And hosting the 2032 Games would provide a foundation to expand programs that provide sporting opportunities for their peoples. And with new technology and digitisation, the young athletes of Oceania will experience opportunities never imagined previously.

Finally, we’re committed to taking the Paralympics to the next level.

We believe in the grit, strength, determination and skill of our Paralympians – and removing the barriers that hinder participation in sport.

It wasn’t only Ash Barty who won at Wimbledon, Dylan Alcott – a great world and national champion – did too! Again!

Dylan, along with Louise Savage, Kurt Fernley and many others are part of a rich strand in Australia’s sporting tradition. They’re national sporting heroes.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you asked me what it means for Australia to host an Olympic Games, I can answer by recalling two moments – both from my own home city of Sydney in the Year 2000.

These are moments in those games that really live on in all Australians.

The first was the night of the women’s 400 metre final.

110,000 people in that Olympic Stadium.

And there she was, Cathy Freeman, heading down the straight – with the wind at her back.

In the stadium that night – and in every street, suburb and town in Australia – you could hear the roar of 60,000 years of history.

It was the most watched sporting event in Australian television history.

That night Cathy carried us all.

She brought us together.

The heart, the soul and the cause of reconciliation advanced a generation – in a single night!

That’s what the Olympics can do.

And there was another moment.

Quite different.

The Australian walker Jane Saville.

She was in the lead in the 20km walk.

Almost an hour and a half into the race and with less than 300 metres to go.

She was approaching the entrance to a packed stadium. Ready to receive cheers. And then she was shown a red card.

Jane – and a nation – heartbroken.

But do you know what she said later? “I felt sorry for the judge”.

What sportsmanship!

What resilience!

Four years later, Jane headed to Athens, and won a bronze medal in the 20km race – Australia’s first women’s Olympic walking medal.

Jane showed a generation of children – and adults too – that when you meet adversity, you dust yourself off, you get back up, and you start walking again.

This week in Tokyo, the world is going to get back up and start walking again. Through these Games.

And if you entrust Brisbane with the Games, I can assure you, we will again walk even further together – in solidarity – reflecting the spirit and the promise of the Olympic Movement – together.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43484

APEC Virtual Informal Leaders' Meeting

17 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Kia ora koutou katoa, Jacinda, congratulations on bringing this together this evening, our time and the other times of the day for everywhere else, it's great to join you from this part of the Pacific. Can I also start off by congratulating Prime Minister Suga. The Tokyo Olympics are seven days away. This is a statement of incredible determination by the people of Japan. And I wish you all the very best, Yoshi, for the Tokyo Olympics in seven days time from now. All the best, my friend.

As this pandemic started and we had these meetings, we spoke about saving lives and saving livelihoods. In many ways that's been achieved. But many lives have been lost and many livelihoods destroyed. Here in Australia, we estimate we've saved more than 30,000 lives and livelihoods. We've seen our economy now return to levels before higher than what it was before the pandemic. And just our jobs figures this week showed that a million people have come back into work. And so there are more people employed now in Australia than before the pandemic hit.

We have had a successful suppression approach and we're particularly pleased that the jobs that have come back in our economy have particularly come back for women who were hard hit by the pandemic, more so than men. And secondly, we've seen our youth unemployment level drop now to the lowest level since 2009. So young people and women getting back into the workforce, getting back to the jobs has been extremely important. That has been assisted greatly by the fiscal support packages we've put in place and the successful suppression strategies we've put in place, mirroring similar to what has occurred in New Zealand. And Jacinda and I have worked closely in the bubble that we have in this part of the Asia-Pacific.

The work that we're currently involved in now is defining what those critical threshold levels are for vaccination that can effectively answer James's question. And the Doherty Institute, which is a very well respected worldwide institute based here in Melbourne and Australia, are doing the work for us now, which will be advising all of our provincial and our national jurisdiction on what are the key threshold marks we have to reach with our vaccination programmes that enable the easing of restrictions, the opening up of travel, particularly for vaccinated persons, the role of quarantine, and what are the safe levels to do that and balancing that up against our economic interests as well as our health system capacity. And be very pleased to share that with the APEC group, because hopefully that can inform the decisions we're all trying to make. Australia's vaccination programme is really gathering pace now and we expect to have Australians vaccinated by the end of the year who wish to do so.

So we remain in the suppression phase in Australia and until we can reach those thresholds, then we will have to do that. And that is quite a challenge. Can I commend particularly Prime Minister Marape, President Phuc, President Widodo as well on the incredible job you're doing in your countries, which we're quite familiar with. And we're very pleased to continue to provide support, not just to those countries, as I know so many are. And I know how difficult it is for you at this time. But we're thinking of you very keenly.

Lending that hand to other economies is incredibly important. We're pleased to be participating in the COVAX Market Initiative, the G7 initiative, and I see Justin there and others from the most recent meeting in Carbis Bay, 20 million doses there, the Quad Initiative joining with Prime Minister Modi, President Biden and of course, Prime Minister Suga.

Scaling up the production of vaccines really is the challenge for all of us. We produce the AstraZeneca vaccine in Australia, but particularly the MRNA vaccine production capability is something we really have to lift globally, so we can get that to more and more of the population.

On the issues we need to work together, we cannot have a recovery without a free and open Indo-Pacific. And that means respect for the rule of law. It means regional stability and security. It means the region being able to operate free of coercion and free of interference. And where we respect the law of the sea, where we respect the rule of law, we respect human rights right across our region, and that we hold fast to those important values for a free and open Indo-Pacific. And it also means we have rules based trading system that we can all trust, one that has binding mechanisms to resolve disputes. And it's an urgent issue to ensure that the WTO's appellate body is restored and fully functional, because without a referee, it's very hard to play the game. And we all want to be on the field as we come back from this recovery. And the WTO plays an absolutely essential role in policing the rules of world trade and ensuring that no country can be subject to economic coercion, which can take place.

I might leave it there, Jacinda, because there's many other contributions. But I really do commend the other leaders for the great work that they're doing, we've still got a long way to go and we need to keep working together.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43480

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Informal Leaders' Summit

Prime Minister of Australia

At the invitation of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, tonight I will attend the virtual APEC Informal Leaders’ Retreat.

I commend Prime Minister Ardern for organising this Retreat to discuss the health and economic recovery of our region as we work to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

APEC has a proven track record of bringing the region’s economies together to bridge divides and enhance regional cooperation.

It is a critical time for Australia to engage with regional partners to promote free trade facilitation, in particular for vaccines and essential goods; build momentum for strengthening the multilateral trading system; and secure a sustainable and inclusive recovery.

I look forward to discussing the key role that APEC and businesses can play in the region’s recovery efforts and to build an open, dynamic and resilient Asia-Pacific community, for the health and prosperity of all our people and future generations.

Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW

16 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: A windy afternoon here in Sydney. The National Cabinet met this afternoon from two till three. It was an important opportunity to come together, as we are meeting every week, particularly during the course of these current events, both here in New South Wales and, of course, more recently in Victoria. But also today, I note that we have had a record day of vaccinations. Some 175,000 vaccine doses were administered yesterday. That is a new record and it means in the space of just three days, half a million doses of the vaccine have been administered across the country. That means that already this month there have been just shy of 2 million vaccines, just shy of 2 million vaccines already in the month of July. And each month, each month, we are seeing the rate of vaccinations increase as we move towards our goal of ensuring that by the end of the year that we can have everyone who's seeking to have a vaccination is able to do that.

It was important today to get an update on the four step plan that I announced around a month ago, working together with the states and territories. We are on track to get the advice back from the Secretaries and Directors-General of all the Premiers and Prime Minister's departments across the country that pulls in the Doherty Institute advice that will inform each of those steps of the plan, the vaccination rates that sit against each of those steps of those plans and being able to get an understanding of how we're tracking against those. So I want to assure people that the path out of this and the four step plan that National Cabinet agreed some weeks ago is very much on our agenda, despite the challenges we're currently facing in New South Wales and Victoria. And the work continues to chart that way out and the vaccination rates we will need to achieve over the course of the rest of this year and next year.

In addition, it was an opportunity to review the status of the situation in New South Wales, in Victoria. Those numbers and those issues, I think are well known from both Premiers' press conferences earlier today. So I won't repeat those. But I do note that both Premiers have made it clear and this is the focus of National Cabinet that the cases, the target here is to reduce as far as possible to zero the cases that are infectious in the community. This is the challenge both in New South Wales and Victoria, that we reduce those cases that are out there and infections in the community. We've seen that rising and we need to see those come down. And so encouraging people to stay home, to get tested and get vaccinated are the core messages behind that.

It was also very pleasing to hear from the New South Wales Premier today, the extraordinary improvement that we've seen in compliance in south west Sydney. And I want to thank all of those out in south west Sydney. Can I particularly thank the multicultural community leaders in south western Sydney, you've done a sterling job working with your communities, religious and faith leaders and so many others. The compliance in south western Sydney has really turned around. So thank you to all those in south western Sydney. And let's keep doing it to ensure that the lockdown can be only as long as it has to be and hopefully as short as possible. And to all of those in Victoria, of course, going into the lockdown now. And I'll come back to this in just a moment. Those economic supports are being provided, as the Treasurer said earlier today, and we released by statement late last night.

On vaccines, it was a good opportunity for the Premiers and Chief Ministers to talk about what's working, the initiatives, whether it's down in Tasmania with being at shopping centres, which are enabling people to ask questions and make bookings. In particular, we noted that those states that have been taking on additional AstraZeneca vaccines and putting them in to their state based clinics are achieving higher rates of vaccination. And so the decisions to put more AstraZeneca into those clinics is proving very effective in lifting those vaccination rates. And we've especially seen that outcome in Victoria. And so we would encourage states and territories to continue to do that. I'd also note the progress that has been made on aged care workers and appreciate the cooperation from states and territories and also working with aged care providers on that programme and General Frewen gave an update on those issues.

We will be seeking over the weeks ahead to bring more pharmacists into the metropolitan programme in a limited way at first. Currently, pharmacists are working with us to supplement GPs in rural and regional areas where there aren't sufficient numbers of GPs to support getting those vaccinations to those communities. Already, pharmacists are being used in places like south western Sydney, where there is that demand for greater points of presence. We will see pharmacists play an increasing role in the months ahead as the supply increases. There's no point having more points of presence with the static amounts of supply, that just increases the logistical difficulty. So as the supply increases, we can have more pharmacists come online, we can have more points of presence out there in the community.
The other thing we discussed was how we might each both at the Commonwealth level and at the state level, work to increase our vaccination rates on the weekends. Had a record day 175,000, but on the weekends that drops right down. Obviously, you don't have as many GPs offices and clinics open on the weekend. The state clinics are open in many places, but both the states and the Commonwealth are going to be looking at ways in which we can increase the rate, availability and points of presence for people to get their vaccines on the weekend.

Now on the payments, all states and territories noted the new arrangements that we've announced over the course of this week. I thank particularly the New South Wales and Victorian governments, for working with us to get the balance right on how these payments work. And these are very important principles. The first one is the Commonwealth payments are triggered by the medical advice provided by the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer. Just like states will act on and listen and be guided to the advice and by the advice of their Chief Health Officers. Commonwealth decisions are guided by the medical advice of the Chief Medical Officer, which has seen the hotspot declared last night for those areas in Melbourne and a range of other areas around towards Geelong. Equally, you've seen the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer declare hotspots across Greater Sydney. That is what triggers the Commonwealth's engagement in payments in any lockdowns that may occur.

Secondly, that there is a shared effort and I welcome the announcement today by the Premier of Victoria, which is seeing them invest some $200 million in their five day lockdown. We hope that's what it is. And that will coincide with those in Melbourne being able to access for those five days. Let's hope it's only that. If you lose more than 20 hours during that period of time, then you're eligible for that $600 payment. And if you lose between eight and 20 hours during those five days, then you're eligible for $375 payment. No liquid assets means test that applies to those payments. And at the end of the week, on day eight, you'd go to my.gov.au to apply and those payments will then follow. Can I encourage everyone who was seeking to apply for those payments again to go to my.gov.au to make your application. That's the fastest way to do it. It's also the most helpful way to do it for those at Services Australia. It reduces the amount of processing time and makes sure that we can get to more people more quickly. Ringing the number 180 22 66 is available, but it's for those who might need additional support or help in completing their application.

Finally, I note that in the same way that we were able to put a package together to support the mental health of people affected by the lockdown here across New South Wales with those additional supports to the many excellent organisations that I've already referred to, the Health Minister, Greg Hunt has also been finalising an arrangement with the Victorian Government, obviously on a different scale given what's occurring there to what's occurring here in New South Wales to provide additional mental health support there. And he'll have more to say about that over the next few days. So with that, I'm happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: [inaudible].

PRIME MINISTER: Well the arrangement that the New South Wales Government has is that they declare what the head count is and they need to keep that head count. But there is no I believe, there are businesses in this state in particular. It wasn't that long ago, it was only a few weeks ago, who needed more staff. And they know how important it is to keep their staff and to be there on the other side of this lockdown to ensure that they are able to fully take advantage of the increase in spending that will always occur after these lockdowns. So businesses, employers know they need their staff and they need good staff and it's in their interest to do just that.

JOURNALIST: [inaudible]

PRIME MINISTER: That's not part of the arrangement. No.

JOURNALIST: Anthony Albanese says that we shouldn't be open to the world until we have the capacity to manufacture mRNA vaccines here. That could be two years. Surely Australia can be opened before that?

PRIME MINISTER: Of course. Of course. I mean, Anthony Albanese is plan to open Australia up in 2023. I don't think it's something that Australians would welcome. It's either an absurd plan or he doesn't understand how long it takes to implement that element of what he's talking about. And so look, I'll leave his ideas to him. We'll get on with the programme that we're running and I'll leave him to his plans.

JOURNALIST: Do you agree short, sharp and early lockdowns are the better solution than what you've previously called the gold standard?

PRIME MINISTER: I believe that states need to take the best possible health advice and do what's right for the interests of their citizens and the broader Australian population. And I believe all states and territories are always trying to do that.

JOURNALIST: Do you think New South Wales should further tighten restrictions, given we still have a high number of cases?

PRIME MINISTER: I think the Premier has already indicated what she's prepared to do there.

JOURNALIST: The origin of this virus, if we go back, you would have heard overnight the Director General of the World Health Organisation said it was premature to rule out a link from a Wuhan Lab. What's your reaction to that? And do you think there has been a thorough enough investigation?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, Australia has always just simply wanted to know for the sake of world health, there's no politics in this, what happened. How can we prevent it from happening again? That is just an honest Australian question asked in good faith and seeking the good faith of working with everyone we have to, to get to those answers. Now, we don't know about the lab or whether that was the initiation of this or not. It may well have been. It might not have been. I don't have a view either way. I'm not in a position to make that judgement. But what Australia has always sought to have achieved is that we get to a point where we do understand these things, so we can do better to protect the world against a pandemic that has destroyed the lives of millions and destroyed the livelihoods of even more and has devastated the world. This has just been such an awful pandemic and it continues to rage. We learn of over 40,000 cases a day still in the United Kingdom, 47,000 cases a day up in Indonesia and Fiji, where we've got a medical team right now. And they've been providing a different additional doses right now to support them. Terrible, terrible pandemic. The world needs answers to this and the world deserves answers to this. And those who have lost their lives and lost their livelihoods they deserve answers. And Australia will continue to ask the questions to get those answers.

JOURNALIST: If the Commonwealth provided more income support in the first week of Sydney's lockdown, do you think that would have helped stop the spread we're seeing now?

PRIME MINISTER: No, it had no bearing on the New South Wales Government's decision whatsoever.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister were there any discussions today at National Cabinet about extending disaster payments to people on JobSeeker who work part time that have lost hours?

PRIME MINISTER: Where people are already receiving Social Security support, then they're not entitled to those payments.

JOURNALIST: [inaudible] a bit of a gap?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, if they're earning less income, then they're actually able to adjust how their payments work as well on Social Security, because there's also rental assistance and a range of other payments in addition to what people get on a JobSeeker payment. And I note that in the last budget we increased the JobSeeker payment above indexation for the first time in more than 30 years at a cost of $8 billion over the forward estimates, the single largest increase in the JobSeeker payment that we've seen in 30 years. So the Commonwealth has more than leant in to ensuring the people get the support they need.

JOURNALIST: Going into the weekend, you've got Australia's two biggest cities in lockdown. You've got parents struggling with home-schooling their children. You've got people whose businesses are folding. You've got queues for vaccines [inaudible]. What do you say to people who say this is a stuff-up?

PRIME MINISTER: This is a tough time for Australia. We're in the middle of a global pandemic. And over the course of the last 18 months, Australians have saved more than 30,000 lives. A million people are back in work as a result of the sacrifices and the efforts of so many Australians. We're a tough generation of Australians, just like the generations before us. And we'll deal with these troubles and we'll deal with these challenges. And we'll come through. We'll get through. And on the other side, Australia will be even stronger. Thank you very much.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43479

Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW

15 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. As you know, I'm joining you here from Kirribilli, which is just like others in Sydney, this is where I was in lockdown and I intend to be able to relocate to Canberra, myself that is, next week in preparation for the parliamentary sittings that will take place in August.

Earlier today, the National Security Committee of Cabinet met to consider a range of issues in the ongoing management of the COVID-19 Delta outbreaks. And that was also to consider the more recent information that we've seen emerge in Victoria. I've had discussions with the Victorian Premier, later today after that meeting, but was briefed on that situation by the Chief Medical Officer, along with the other members of the National Security Committee and those co-opted to consider potential arrangements, should there be any changes in Victoria.

But we also made a number of changes that relate to the situation here, in New South Wales, with the ongoing lockdown here. The first of those was that we will be restoring the temporary Medicare telehealth system, and that means there will be a new MBS, new Medicare item reintroduced to ensure people in COVID-19 hotspots, that is the Greater Sydney area, have access to longer phone consultations. That's 20 minutes or over for chronic conditions or other health issues that may require doctors to spend more time with patients. That's an effective measure that we've had in place previously. And the Health Minister, Greg Hunt, recommended that we bring that forward again. And that is being done. That takes place pretty much immediately.

Secondly, you would have seen reported today from our statement that the child care gap fee waiver would be put in place. That's from the 19th of July. There are some 3,634 childcare services that can be assisted through this and some 216,000 families in the areas that are impacted. What this basically means is that if your child doesn't go to child care in these lockdown areas, it means that you won't be charged a gap fee and the centre will continue to receive support. So that supports the centre. Your place with your child is maintained through that arrangement. We have successfully implemented and put in place these arrangements in past lockdowns, and they've proved to be very helpful for families and the child care sector as well.

Also, while we're still on New South Wales, can I note that from today, if you are in Bayside, the City of Sydney, Canada Bay, Inner West, Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra, from today, you can go to my.gov.au, and you can make your application for that higher payment. The one that I announced with the Premier earlier this week, the $600 and $375 payment. You can make that application on my.gov.au. Can I encourage you to preferably go to the website. It's quicker and it means that the processing is quicker. If you need support on a phone line, you can call the 180 22 66 line. But particularly those calls are there to support those who may have language difficulties or particular circumstances that need further discussion or things of that nature, or people looking for further explanations. That phone line is there to provide further assistance. But if it's very straightforward, can I encourage you to go to the my.gov.au website that will help everyone at Service Australia to turn these things around as quickly as possible. From Sunday, you can apply across Greater Sydney and across New South Wales for those payments where you've lost more than 20 hours or eight to 20 hours, as we've already announced.

Can I also note today the vaccination numbers that are out, you'll have noticed them. Some 162,662 doses administered yesterday. That's another very strong day. In particular, it's a record GP daily dose administration. So GPs continue to carry the lion's share of that burden, in terms of getting those jabs in arms, I think the GPs are doing an amazing job. That would be anticipated given we've been ramping up the additional points of presence for GPs right across the country. What this now means is one third of eligible Australians for the vaccine have now had their first dose. One in eight are now fully vaccinated. Just under 60 per cent of over 50s have had their first dose and almost 75 per cent of those over 70 have had their first dose.

I also note that on the Australian Traveller declaration that we are now moving ahead of time and we are now collecting that information on the vaccination status of people travelling into Australia. That will help with the triaging of quarantine arrangements ultimately with states, and that data will start to flow once it reaches a critical mass.

National Cabinet is meeting again tomorrow as it is now each week. The thing about COVID-19 is, particularly with the new Delta strain, as I've said many times, it writes the rules and rules that you think might be appropriate one time sometimes have to change to make sure that we're keeping pace and ensuring people are supported through the COVID pandemic. Saw that earlier this week as the Premier here in New South Wales and I, together with our Treasurers, we're able to come to a new arrangement different to that which went beyond that which was agreed at National Cabinet some time ago. I'll be putting to National Cabinet tomorrow, after considering this with the National Security Committee today, which is managing the Commonwealth's response to COVID, a new and what we think is a more simple and streamlined set of financial supports for states and territories going forward that may find themselves, hopefully not, hopefully not, in a situation where they would be in a period of lockdown, stress their respective changes and we would be doing the following. Payments for a COVID support payment would still be paid in the second week of a pandemic. They would be paid basically on an arrears basis on that first seven days. Secondly, the liquid assets test would be waived from the outset. Thirdly, the payment that will be made will be at that December quarter JobKeeper figure for last year, which is the payment that in New South Wales they're about to go into. Well, literally from tomorrow. For those LGAs that I mentioned before. Payments of the $600 and $375 will be the, which is the December quarter JobKeeper arrangements, they will be what kicks in when those COVID disaster payments are first paid. They would be paid in the second week. They would be paid in arrears on that first week. Same rules, more than 20 hours, eight to 20 hours over the course of that first week and onward from there. Secondly, at the end of 14 days, we would be providing to all states and territories the same arrangements that we are entering into now with the New South Wales Government for business. I'll remind you about those arrangements. That is, if you've had your turnover reduced by more than 30 per cent, you would have for businesses between $75,000 annual turnover to $50 million annual turnover, you would have 40 per cent of your payroll made in a payment with a minimum payment of $1,500 and a maximum payment of $10,000. That would be done based on that first two weeks of any possible lockdown. Of course, we don't want to see these lockdowns. We prefer they not happen. But as we're learning with the Delta strain, it is highly infectious and it's important that we all understand that if these things become necessary, then Australians and Australian businesses have the confidence about what the arrangements will be.

Now for all other states and territories, the Commonwealth in those circumstances, will administer those payments for business. And we will do it through a very similar mechanism that we're doing with the Commonwealth disaster payments for individuals. New South Wales will continue to do the payments here in New South Wales. They wish to do that. They have a very effective system. Service New South Wales is a very large state system. It's the largest of any of the states in the country, and they have a very high capacity. For the rest of the country, it would be possible for the Commonwealth and we have been building that for the last week, to ensure that we'd be able to put something like that in place for the other states and territories if they found themselves in that situation. Of course, if New South Wales wish to do that, then they would be at liberty to make that request. But we don't envisage that will be necessary given the great work that they're doing here.

The last point I'd make, which is a positive note, and can I just say something about the COVID disaster payments to clear up any confusion that there might be. Those are the individual payments. They are for an Australian resident or those holding an eligible work visa, 17 years or older. You can't be receiving another income support payment, pandemic leave, disaster payment, state or territory pandemic payments. You must live or work in the Commonwealth declared hotspot. But as we know in New South Wales, the state government is making those payments available right across the state. I should stress that if any other state or territory wish to do that in those circumstances, then they could have the same arrangement as New South Wales. That they had paid employment and because of the lockdown, they can't attend work during the lockdown. And this one is very important. These rules have not changed. Lost income because of the lockdown and don't have any appropriate COVID related paid leave entitlements, not any paid leave entitlements, your holiday leave or things like this. But if you don't have COVID related paid leave requirements. That, I know there are some businesses for those who are taking leave, who might think they have to pay that. No, if they don't have COVID related pandemic leave entitlements, then those workers are entitled to call those numbers to go to that my.gov.au website and access those payments.

Can I turn and make reference to today's unemployment data, which has seen the unemployment rate in Australia drop to 4.9 per cent. This is, of course, welcome news. It obviously doesn't take into account the impacts of what is happening most recently here in New South Wales, but does take into the time where we had that brief lockdown in Melbourne. While these numbers are incredibly welcome, an increase in some 51,600 full time jobs. And importantly, it shows that since the pandemic recession that occurred last year, more than a million Australians are back in work. More than a million of Australians have found their way back into work in Australia's recovering economy. That is good news. And what it says as we go through these difficult times this month, in particular with lockdowns in Sydney, with some concerning data coming out of Melbourne, is the Australian economy is fundamentally strong. When there are artificial restraints that are put on that economy through these restrictions, then, of course, that has an impact. And we've seen that, I think, in the underemployment rate in this data. And I'm sure we will see that in July data when it comes out next month. But what we do know is when you lift the shackles of your economy that are necessary for health reasons, the economy comes back and businesses can look to the other side of these lockdowns knowing that when the restraints are taken off again, then the customers do come back and they can look forward to getting that support over the course of the lockdown, they can get to that next place. So I think for all Australians all around the country, it's important to keep looking forward, keep looking forward. Showing vaccination rates increasing week on week, which is showing the economy in a position where it can continue to rebound despite these short term impacts and hopefully not going on any longer than is necessary in any state or territory where these restrictions are put in place and that we get to the other side. And on that other side, we see our economy being able to pick up and move strongly going forward.

I would finally note, as someone who is one of my great passions, is to see that the youth unemployment rate has decreased to 10.2 per cent in June. That is the lowest rate recorded since January of 2009. Getting young people into jobs has been one of the most high pride, one of the highest priorities of our government, getting young people into work. You get a young person into work, particularly in their early 20s, and you know they don't spend a life on welfare. It is a terrible blow to them personally over their lifetime and indeed the economy and the society as a whole. If we can't get more and more young people into work. The more of them we get into work, the more reliant they become on themselves over the course of their lives and less reliant on the social and other supports that are there to support people in need. So seeing that youth unemployment rate at its lowest level since January 2009, I know the parents and those right across the country, that will be very welcome. But we've still got a job to do to get through these difficult times to ensure that we keep them in those jobs that we've been so keen to get them into. Happy to take questions. Peter.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just in terms of the eligibility for payments, you can take two or four weeks, whatever it might be. With Melbourne going back into lockdown, will their, is their past lockdown counting towards that time, or does the clock tick off again?

PRIME MINISTER: No, not formally, but I can assure you that in considering the arrangements we've considered today, we've certainly recognised that. It wasn't that long ago they were in lockdown for two weeks. And, so, certainly as what for many of them would it feel - if they do and I have no knowledge of whether they're going to do that. I have spoken to the Premier today and we obviously canvassed various options and I obviously let him know about the decision we took this morning at National Security Committee. We'll discuss this more tomorrow. But, there is, I think, a recognition of that. But, it's not a formal business rule of the way the payments work. And, so, after seven days, regardless of whether a lockdown goes beyond that, there is the opportunity to make a payment in arrears.

JOURNALIST: So, sorry, can I just clarify that. So, does that mean that the previous lockdown, it doesn't formally count toward that timeframe, but it can?

PRIME MINISTER: No, well, I'm just saying, that when we look at what's been occurring and what may occur, subject to what the Victorian Cabinet decides to do, it would be unfair to say that we didn't take that into account when setting up these new rules. But, we have to set up rules that apply right across the country. So, if another state or territory hasn't had a recent lockdown, we wouldn't deny the same sort of support from the start of that lockdown that we would apply to any new lockdown that occurs, whether it's in Victoria or elsewhere.

JOURNALIST: Is upping the payment to $600 from the start or from the two-week period - is upping the payment an admission that the original plan, the $500, wasn't enough money?

PRIME MINISTER: No, it's just we're working the problem. You know, COVID evolves. When we put the Budget together this year and we looked out over the next 12 months and Treasury looked at that, we'd anticipated there'd be a series of very short-term lockdowns, and there hadn't been anticipated this extended lockdown. And, what it means is, is that you adapt, you change, you update, you streamline, you make it more simple. That's what it means. It just shows a Government that is seeking to be up to the mark and flexible and make sure we get things right.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, given over 70s are most susceptible to dying from COVID, and we have more than 75 per cent of people over 70 in this country now at least with one dose. They're somewhat protected. Could that come into the calculations of state governments when they're making decisions on lockdowns, given that largely our most vulnerable are somewhat protected?

PRIME MINISTER: I am pleased that it's just shy of 75 at the moment. It won't be a very long before we hit that mark, and then it'll go beyond that. That is a very important consideration in any of these decisions because the most vulnerable in our community are increasingly protected. That said, the people that we have lost in this most recent outbreak in New South Wales were over 70 and were unvaccinated, as I understand it. So, even at 75 per cent, that doesn't mean that you've completely operating a risk-free environment. But, I do recall when we went through the long second wave lockdown in Victoria the devastation that was experienced by the older community in that state. So, yes, of course, when you look and when we come to the time of setting those vaccination benchmarks and thresholds, which we're on track for doing that in the timeline I've already indicated to you, then the overall level of vaccination in the country is important. But, what's most important is the vaccination, particularly in that over 70 age group. We see that in the UK - in the UK, their double dose vaccination for the elder population is higher than the general population, and I have no doubt that's what's informing decisions they're taking. But, I must admit that it is concerning what we're seeing in the United Kingdom. Yes, they have 65 per cent overall double dose vaccination across their eligible population, but people are dying in the UK and they're dying in increasing numbers. And, so, we'll be watching that situation carefully and we hope for the best for them.

JOURNALIST: Will you be sending more vaccines to South Western Sydney and also now to Melbourne to help counter this outbreak?

PRIME MINISTER: We've got more vaccines now because, as from next week, we start getting the additional Pfizer vaccines to when we're up to a million a week. So, the overall level of supply is increasing now. And, that means, I mean, ultimately, the New South Wales Government will determine where they're sending those in the allocation that they're receiving. But, equally, we'll be ensuring that we're getting them out across the GP network.

JOURNALIST: Is it true you've got a call scheduled with Pfizer, the Pfizer CEO soon?

PRIME MINISTER: It won't be the first time I've engaged them.

JOURNALIST: Have the past couple of weeks shown that the agreement that was agreed at National Cabinet, that in this current phase of the plan, lockdowns should only be a last resort - have the past couple of weeks shown that that agreement didn't really work?

PRIME MINISTER: No, because they really should be a last resort. They should be a last resort, but sometimes, with the Delta variant, you come to that position a lot more quickly than you used to. I think, I think, Australians understand that dealing with COVID-19 doesn't come with a rulebook. And, as much as we'd like the certainty that affects so many other areas of things that we have to deal with, that doesn't apply with this. Every single country, every single state and territory is wrestling with what is a very fluid situation. That's why we keep meeting together. That's why we keep working together. That's why we keep upgrading and updating what we're doing and where it can be improved, and I'm announcing some improvements that I'll take to National Cabinet tomorrow, then, then good. That's, that shows governments actually getting on with it and trying to protect people, not just their economic welfare. But, as I announced earlier this week, the increased support for mental health is incredibly important, massively important, particularly for younger people and those who are facing exams.

JOURNALIST: Sorry, Prime Minister, when will Australia be able to make manufacturing deals with companies such as Pfizer or Moderna to make locally made vaccines?

PRIME MINISTER: There is not a country in the world today, other than those who had that capacity before the pandemic began, that has an end to end manufacturing capability for mRNA vaccines, not one. There, with the Pfizer vaccine, they have entered into agreement, I think they're doing one with Korea, which does fill and finish. But, where those vaccines go, that's not sovereign manufacturing capability. That's an outsourced component of the manufacturing process from Pfizer and Pfizer will determine where those doses go. So, I think there's a bit of confusion about this. There is not one country in the world right now that has an end to end manufacturing capability for Pfizer, other than those who had it at the outset. And, not one is likely to have it, in that capability, for some years. There'll be elements of it that are done in different places. I mean, South Korea, for example, I understand actually does manufacturing of the Sputnik vaccination. But, putting that to one side, what that means is we are in the same process - and I can't go into too much detail because of the commercial sensitivity. Just this morning, I met again with the NSC, with the Industry Minister, who's been pursuing that tender process that you're aware of, and the consortia that have been brought together to pursue this opportunity. The issue still remains that the IP is held by Pfizer and by Moderna. But, I can tell you that the discussions with Moderna, which have been ongoing now for some time, for some considerable time, as they have been with Pfizer, but an end to end manufacturing capability, which is what we had with AstraZeneca and have with AstraZeneca, and what we would have sought to have with the University of Queensland vaccine had that been a vaccine we could go forward with, that was the only capability that could have been established to support the current pandemic. And, anyone suggesting that in Australia you could have had an end to end sovereign manufacturing capability for an mRNA vaccine, that we'd be rolling vaccines off the line right now, doesn't know what they're talking about.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, even once we get to a stage where, like what we see around the rest of the world, with much higher vaccination rates and freedom without lockdowns, there's going to be a lot more deaths, just being realistic, than we're facing now. Political leaders, yourself included, have been keen to talk about deaths being unacceptable. Do you think that that's going to change eventually when we accept that COVID is going to rip through a hopefully close to fully vaccinated population? There will be deaths.

PRIME MINISTER: There are two considerations here. The first one is, is that we need to provide everyone who wants a vaccination in Australia with that opportunity. And, we're on track for that by the end of the year. And, that puts us, despite the challenges we had earlier in the programme, particularly around the medical advice that was given around AstraZeneca, that puts us around about two months and behind where we hoped to have been. We've been catching up ground on that, and that's welcome. So, there is that element that if you wanted one, you could have had one. So, you've had a conscious decision about whether you've sought to protect yourself from what is a very virulent virus. The second part of it is the epidemiology and what that says, and looking at issues of hospitalisation rates and ICU rates and so on for people who are infected. The plan I outlined from National Cabinet has an important transition in step two and step three. And, that is we go from suppressing the virus, which is about case numbers, which is why we're having to do what we have to do right now, and we were always going to have to do at this stage of the pandemic, and moving to a situation where you're focusing on whether the virus is leading to people going to hospital, whether the virus is leading to people sadly losing their lives in a way that would be demonstrably greater than what occurs with other viruses. Of course, there are many viruses, there are many diseases that cause fatality in the community. The issue is getting this virus back to a level where you can treat it the same as other such viruses in the community. And, that's really the benchmark. That's the mark you've got to get to. None of us wants to see anyone lose their life because of a virus or ill health. But, sadly, that's the truth of mortality. And, so, what we, our objective is, is to get to that point where we can see COVID in the same way we see other infectious diseases. We're not there yet. And, frankly, they're not there yet in other parts of the world. They're not there yet. And, and we'd be kidding ourselves to think we are there or they're there.

JOURNALIST: Wouldn't it be easier to reintroduce a targeted JobKeeper scheme than this other approach you're taking?

PRIME MINISTER: No, absolutely not. It would be more difficult and people would be waiting longer for their payments. See, forgive me for just quickly going over how JobKeeper worked. When we introduced JobKeeper, we had to do it nationally. When we introduced JobKeeper, we understood that people, as many as five million Australians, could find themselves out of work with no income within weeks. The social security system was never going to be able to meet that demand. The whole system would have crashed. People wouldn't have had the security of income support. And, what would have followed from that is basically unknown. And, I don't even want to imagine it, and we didn't want to imagine it. So, we had to come up with a scheme that you could do at a scale that Australia had never seen before. So, what we did was, is we combined government with business and the banks. We said to business, how many employees can you keep on? And, that you can keep on, which at that time we thought might go for six months. And, they answered that question in their own head. And, we said, we now need you to go to your bank and we need you to borrow the money to pay that payroll at that rate of $1,500 dollars a fortnight. And, we said to both the bank and the employer, we will fix you up in arrears on the other side. That is the only way we could have got that support to three million people that fast. Now, we're not confronted with that now. In the normal circumstances, you would just let your social security system pay those payments to people who'd lost hours and done work. It's actually a lot quicker. It's a lot simpler, as people are finding. And, so, it is much more effective, much simpler to just have people who've lost those hours go to that website, register, or if they have to ring that number, and the payment comes within days. So, it's far more effective to do it this way, far more effective. You're not asking the business to take on a loan and to pay those employees. And, effectively, we effectively nationalised the private payrolls of Australian employers to ensure that we could deliver income support to the country. That's not what we're seeking to do now because we can provide that income support directly. The lesson from all that is, our Government, my Government seeks to solve the problem in front of us. The problem in front of us is always often different to the one that's behind us. Well, then one thing about COVID as I've learned, that's what you have to do. Every single time it's different. And, so, you've got to work the problem in front of you.

JOURNALIST: What's the light at the end of the tunnel for Australia, Prime Minister? Because at the moment we're living in a state of perpetual anxiety. The national mood has been shattered. The two biggest cities are in lockdown. And, really …

PRIME MINISTER: There's only one city in lockdown at the moment. Well, you may be pre-empting things. I don't know what you know.

JOURNALIST: Really, the national mood is one of deep sadness.

PRIME MINISTER: It's tough.

JOURNALIST: So, what is the light at the end of the tunnel?

PRIME MINISTER: The light at the end of the tunnel is both the continued resilience and strength of Australians to persevere, because we get through everything as Australians. No matter what is thrown at us, we get through it, as previous generations have done, to make the country what it is today. This is the test that our generation is facing and our generation is up to it. And, we will persevere and come out the other side and we can have the great confidence of this in the Australian spirit that that will be achieved, that we will not be overcome by this, that we will not be defeated by this, and nor will we give up as a country into into the frustration or the exasperation that can come, understandably, with these challenges. But, the second thing is this, that the vaccination program continues to gather pace, that the rollout continues to ensure that by the end of this year, all of those who are seeking a vaccination should be able to have received one. And, that means we can go into the next phase and the next phase after that. The other hope I'd give you is this. Because Australia has had the success to date where we've saved over 30,000 lives, where we've got a million people back in work, that shows the strength of the Australian economy to rebound. It shows the strength of the Australian people to come back. And, so, all we need to keep doing is putting our heads down, go forward, keep our spirits up, get the job done. And, Australia will not just get through this, we will come out the other side stronger.

JOURNALIST: PM, here in Sydney Premier Gladys Berejiklian is telling, Premier Berejiklian is telling workers to have a think about whether their work is essential and have a conversation with their boss about whether or not their work is essential. What can someone do if they can't work from home, if their workplace, say a retail shop, is open, and their boss needs them to come to work, is begging them to come into work, but they don't feel safe in doing so. What can that person do?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's a matter for the Premier, ultimately, and there's rules in New South Wales about what's open and what's not open. The disaster payments are made to those who can't get work, who can't get those hours. That's who it's for. If there is work available to you, well, good. But, if there is not work available to you, if you can't do that work, and as a result your hours have been reduced because you can't work - and that could be a situation of a sole trader, for example, who was covered by a different scheme, the $1,000 a week scheme. There are parts of the city that they will avoid working in, and that could have that impact. It'd be nice to think there are very hard lines about all of this, but there are not. So, I would support the Premier in her encouragement for people to have those discussions with their employers and to work this through together. That's how we always get through everything. I mean, let's not lose sight - despite the discouragements that are clearly there in front of us right now, let's not lose sight of what has been achieved. So much has been achieved, and even when we reflect on those employment numbers today, a million Australians are back in work. A million Australians are back in work because of the resilience, the tenacity and the hope of the Australian people. Thanks very much.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43476

Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW

13 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Great cooperation between the Commonwealth and the State Government. The pandemic continues to evolve, it continues to set its own rules. And what's incredibly important, that as governments around the country, whether it's the New South Wales Government and the Commonwealth Government, state and territory governments around the country, we must continue to work together to keep pace and where possible, get ahead of those events wherever we possibly can. And Australia's record, when it comes to saving lives and saving livelihoods, speaks to the way that we've been able to do that together. And no more has that been the case than here in New South Wales that has done an exemplary job in saving lives and livelihoods during the course of this pandemic.

As we've gone through this year, as we remain in the suppression phase, we came to an agreement at National Cabinet a few weeks back, before these most recent lockdowns, where we agreed that the Commonwealth would provide support directly for income support for individuals and that state governments and territory governments would provide the support for business payments. Now, in the case of the lockdown that most recently occurred in Victoria, that's exactly what has occurred. And we have followed those same arrangements here in New South Wales that were put in place for Victoria. Thankfully, that lockdown only endured for two weeks. But clearly, here in New South Wales, the situation has taken a very different turn. The New South Wales outbreak has proved to be more severe, more dangerous, and it's in the national interest that we now put in place an upgraded set of arrangements for cooperation with the states and territories that will first be put in place here, with New South Wales, when lockdowns enter into more protracted situations, i.e., we now have to go, we're in weeks three now, and the Premier obviously will make further announcements at the appropriate time about where the lockdown goes from here.

Throughout our response as a Commonwealth Government, and equally at the state level, we have always followed key principles for providing that support. It needs to be targeted. It needs to be timely. It needs to be proportionate, scalable, and the administration of those supports need to be done in a way so it can get to people as simply and as quickly as is possible. That is what was so essential when in March of last year, in April of last year, we put in place the arrangements about the cash flow boost, the support payments to keep apprentices in jobs, and what ultimately then was done with programmes like JobKeeper. Their design was built around those core principles. And so it has been the case as we've worked together over the course of these last few days to ensure that we can put in place an upgraded response for both individual and business support in the course of this lockdown as it goes into a protracted phase. Currently, right now, you're able to receive a payment if you've lost more than 20 hours of work a week in the Sydney metropolitan area, the greater Sydney area, of $325. So if you've lost between eight and 20 hours, doesn't matter if you're a casual, a part time worker, a full time worker, there is no application of what's called the liquid assets means test. You can call 180 22 66, or go to the Services Australia website and you can apply for access to that payment. It works exactly like the disaster payments that we provide in the wake of whether it's a flood or a cyclone or any of those other events, bushfires and so on, that has been provided by the Commonwealth for disaster payments. You can get that payment right now. You don't have to have lost your job. You don't have to have left your employer. It doesn't matter who your employer is. If you have lost those hours, you can access that payment, right now. What we have decided to do, to go forward into week four, is that those payments will be increased to $600 for those who have lost more than 20 hours, an increase to $375 for those who have lost between eight and 20 hours a week, or one day a week in hours, or up to 20 hours a week. Those payments, by applying for those first four local government areas that went into lockdown first, that's this Friday, you apply again to access those payments and then they become a recurring payment for the extent of the lockdown. So you won't need to keep reapplying all the time. Of course, if your circumstances change and you get hours back, then we would require you to advise us of that. And we will adjust the payments accordingly. But this ensures that as we go into the next week that people can get that higher level of support, they can get it through that simple process of calling 180 22 66, or on the Services Australia website. And that payment is then recurring from that point on.

Now, as a result of the partnership with the New South Wales Government, that payment will not only be made in the greater Sydney area as defined by the Commonwealth hotspot, but because of the New South Wales Government support, they will be supplementing that to ensure that that payment can be made available statewide. So areas outside the Commonwealth hotspot area and those two payments will be available right across the state of New South Wales, with New South Wales picking up the costs of that broader payment in the regional and rural areas, and the Commonwealth continuing to meet the costs in the metropolitan areas. I'd note that those payments of $600 and $375 were the payments that were in place during the December quarter, which was when the Victorian lockdown was still in place last year. Of the lockdowns that we're looking at, this lockdown and the circumstances we're dealing with are more akin to what we saw at the beginning of that process than what we saw most recently. And I note that during that lockdown, the Commonwealth provided to the state of Victoria, in the form of JobKeeper specifically, $13.4 billion. That was the support provided to the Victorian public in relation to the long lockdown that we had, regrettably, in Victoria. I also note that in the Northern Beaches lock down earlier this year, the Commonwealth provided over a billion dollars in that support into those communities to provide support going through that very difficult time. So the payments are what they were back in the last quarter of last year at $600 and $375.

The other thing we have agreed to do and cost share, 50/50, which the Premier and the Treasurer will go into more detail on, is to provide a direct payment to businesses up to a turnover of $50 million a year. That payment will be made, it's modelled on the programme we did with the cash flow boost last year, which you will remember, we made payments of between $10,000 and $50,000 over a three month period. It wasn't over a week or two. It was made over a three month period and we did that for two successive quarters. So through the cash flow boost, we provided as a Commonwealth Government, between $20,000 and $100,000 to support the cash flow of businesses over a six month period. Now, it is certainly our intention and our hope, and I know the Premier's and the Treasurer's, that we will not be in that situation and everything is being done to prevent that. And I thank those right across Sydney and more broadly across New South Wales, for their patience in going through the current lockdown.

But the payments that we'll be making to businesses of up to $50 million are $1,000 for sole traders and then payments of between $1,500 and $10,000 per week, paid on a fortnightly basis to the businesses of that order. And those payments have a maximum, as I said, of $10,000 and payments can be made up to 40 per cent of turnover. So for the businesses that are much smaller, they will receive a minimum of $1,500. And then it goes at 40 per cent of your payroll, I should say, not turnover, of your payroll amount. And then it maxes out at $10,000. That will come at a cost between the Commonwealth and the states of around a half a billion dollars a week, met equally by the State and the Commonwealth government and the New South Wales Treasurer and Premier will say more about that.

The third area that I wanted to mention today is it's not just about getting through this economically. It's about bringing people through in a healthy state of mind. As we found in the Victorian lockdown, the provision of additional mental health support was absolutely critical. We'll be doing that again here with the state government. The Commonwealth is committing $12.25 million as part of a round about a $17.5 million package thereabouts, which will be providing additional supports, $1.5 million to Lifeline, this is from the Commonwealth, support for the Kids Helpline, Headspace, beyondblue, a range of of of key organisations that have been so critical to supporting the mental health of, at that time Victorians, and now those from Sydney and New South Wales who can access that additional support through these services. The Butterfly Foundation also receiving support. New support, as I said, through Headspace.

I particularly want to send a message to those students who are doing their HSC, which I'm sure the Treasurer and the Premier will join me in sending. We know this is a tough time for you. HSC students in 2020 were going through a very similar process, particularly down there in Victoria. And you will get through this. This support is being put there particularly to help you. And so I encourage parents and community members to let young people know that help is at hand and you can access that help. And we are upping the services to ensure that that help will be there for you as you go through what I know is a very difficult time. So you're very much in our thoughts.

So to summarise, again, additional support for individuals, additional support for businesses through a new shared programme between the Commonwealth and the state government, and additional support to help people with their mental health as they go through this pandemic lockdown. I'll hand you over to the Premier.

PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE HON GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. And can I begin by thanking you, and our respective Treasurers, Josh Frydenberg and Don Perrottet, for working so closely together to be able to deliver this package for the people of New South Wales. And whilst the Prime Minister has quite rightly outlined what is the national framework for these payments, the New South Wales Government was very pleased to be able to extend with our part of the payments to all of New South Wales so that no matter where you live, if you're suffering because of the stay at home provisions, you are able to make sure that you and your loved ones don't go through that stress, no matter how the lockdown lasts.

Now can I make this point? Our intention always is to have this lockdown not go longer than it needs to. But these payments will make sure that whether you're someone who runs a business or someone who's an employee, you'll be able to respect the rules we put in place and also have peace of mind. It's really having peace of mind and also the ability to follow the health advice because they're the two things that will help us get through this lockdown. And that's why I'm very pleased with the package that's announced today. Essentially, individuals will go through Services Australia for their payments and businesses will go through Services New South Wales. And in terms of where you get your information, they're the two bodies that you go to, and we make sure that we give you the information you need during what is, we understand, a very stressful time for people. I'm also pleased to say that the New South Wales Treasurer will also announce other measures that we'll be taking as a state government, which are over and above what the Prime Minister has announced. And they're specific to our state, including payroll tax exemptions and other opportunities for businesses to get support from us.

But in the first instance, I do want to thank the Prime Minister, the Federal Treasurer and also my Treasurer here in New South Wales for the work they've done to support New South Wales during this difficult time. We never can predict the twists and turns of a pandemic, but what we do know is that in order to have this lockdown end in a timely way, but also provide support to our citizens, it's important to make these arrangements clear as soon as possible. And I'm grateful for the speed with which the Commonwealth has responded to the issues that we raised. I'll now ask Treasurer Perrottet to outline some New South Wales-specific details and then we'll take questions. Thank you.

TREASURER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE HON DOMINIC PERROTTET: Well, thank you, Premier. We know it's a very challenging and difficult time for businesses and workers right across the state. This is not just a health crisis. It's an economic one, too. And our message to every business and every worker right across New South Wales is that we've gone through over the last 18 months and together we will get through this period of time as well. The package that we've developed, we believe, provides support for every worker, for every business right across the state. I want to join the Premier in thanking the Prime Minister and the Federal Treasurer for the constructive and cooperative way that we've worked through the details of this cash booster scheme, which will provide important cash flow to businesses to ensure we keep as many workers in work and as many businesses going during this period of time.

An important part of this package is to ensure that those businesses who access this payment will also be required not to reduce their headcount. We want to keep as many workers in work during this period of time. The New South Wales economy is stronger today than it was before the pandemic. We've always said we'll prioritise the economy before the budget. We've done that and that's ensured the economy is stronger, that more people are in work then when the pandemic began. And that's where we'll be once we get through this difficult time as well. As the Premier has indicated, we'll also be providing support as part of that disaster payment for workers right across the state who will be able to access that, not just in the hot spots that have been declared. So as the Premier has outlined, those payments will be made through Services Australia, and we encourage all workers right across New South Wales, as we know, this is not just focused on Sydney. There are many workers who are doing it tough outside those areas and they'll be able to access that programme as well.

In addition to this programme today, we're also announcing a further expansion and extension to our small business grants. They will increase and access to those will be expanded for businesses with payrolls of up to $10 million. We will also be deferring all payroll tax liabilities for the next two months. And for those businesses with a reduction in turnover, a reduction in turnover of 30 per cent, which are under $10 million in payrolls, we will completely waive payroll tax for the first quarter of this year.

We are also providing support for micro businesses as part of the package today. Those businesses with a turnover of less than $75,000 but greater than $30,000 will have received a turnover reduction of 30 per cent during this period of time, will receive a payment of $1,500 per fortnight, starting from week one of the lockdown period until the completion.

In addition to that, we will also be providing support for tenants, commercial tenants and retail tenants. We will be mandating that there'll be no lockouts or evictions during this period of time and any rent reduction from landlords to their tenants in that space, we will provide a rebate or discount in relation to land tax payable from that landlord to the state. So we want to encourage retailers right across New South Wales to work with landlords to make sure we all get through this difficult time together.

In addition to that we'll also be providing protections when it comes to residential tenancies. There will be no evictions for the next 60 days. For those who are doing it tough, for workers who have had a reduction in income by 25 per cent, I will also provide the same land tax reductions and rebates for residential landlords who can provide some rental relief for their tenants. For those landlords that don't that don't qualify for land tax, we'll provide a $1,500 payment as well to also reduce the rental obligations for those tenants.

We're also providing today, in addition to the mental health support with the Commonwealth Government, some extra support to ensure that those people right across New South Wales who are sleeping rough, close to another additional 4,000 temporary accommodation places in the state. It's a programme that has worked from the start of the pandemic. And we want to make sure that wherever you are right across the state, all vulnerable people are given the protections and support they can. We've always said from the start that we will prioritise the economy before the budget. So whether you're a casual worker, a permanent worker, a small business, a large business, the New South Wales government has your back. We are going to get through this difficult time and come out stronger on the other side.

I want to finish by thanking the Prime Minister and the Federal Treasurer once again for working very closely and putting together, what I believe, with the New South Wales Government today, is an unprecedented package that will help every single person through this state get through this difficult time.

JOURNALIST: [inaudible question].

TREASURER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE HON DOMINIC PERROTTET: Well, in conjunction with the Commonwealth, we're putting $4.1 billion addition. Our package today, $4.1 billion. The Commonwealth over $5 billion. The $1.4 billion for that small business programme has been expanded. That will now be $2.1 billion and will provide an opportunity for small businesses to have access to, it was previously up to $10,000 in grants, that will now be up to $15,000, to provide that important support.

JOURNALIST: How many weeks?

TREASURER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE HON DOMINIC PERROTTET: Well, some of those payments are one off payments, but obviously with the package that we're announcing today, in conjunction with the Commonwealth, will be paid on a fortnightly basis for as long as the lockdown continues. And obviously for some of the support packages in relation to those micro businesses, that will play out as well from week one for the duration of the lockdown.

PRIME MINISTER: Just on the individual payments, they will go, that is the $600 payment and $375, that will continue as long as the lockdown continues. And, of course, the point that the Treasurer has just made is that we estimate the cost of this each week is around $500 million. It's demand-driven so that's not an allocation, that's just a very initial estimate of what the expenditure may be in these circumstances. And the Commonwealth understands that we'll be continuing to support that for as long as the lockdown remains in place. And hopefully that won't be too long. And I have no doubt that New South Wales will ensure it will only go as long as it has to, but it'll go for as long as it needs to.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Treasurer mentioned the cash flow payments will require staffing levels not to adjust, I think it's from 13 July. How will you enforce that and what are the penalties?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's based on a headcount as of the date of the announcement, which is today. And the undertaking for people receiving this payment is that that's what they will indeed do. Now, we've had similar type arrangements in place in the past. We expect people to honour their commitments. And, you know what, people have. There's, right now, particularly in New South Wales but I'd say more broadly, it was only a month ago that employers were coming to me saying that we needed to get more people into the country because they needed more workers. People in New South Wales, employers, and particularly in New South Wales, understand that the labour market has got a lot tighter over the course of this last 12 months. One million people, thereabouts, have come back into work since the pit of the recession caused by the COVID pandemic. So it's not in any New South Wales employer’s interest to leave staff behind at the moment. They know that they will need those staff in a few weeks time, hopefully it's as soon as that, and they'll be wanting to keep them on their books.

And so that's why I just want to stress with this payment again, you can still remain with your employer. So you may have been working 40 hours a week and you have agreed to reduce your hours down to 20 hours a week. That means you can keep working in that businesses, under those arrangements, and you can pick up the $600 payment from the Commonwealth. And that will help you continue to go through what is a difficult time. Previously, those payments were made through JobKeeper because that was a national scheme involving a very large scale. That's not necessary on this occasion. We can get those payments directly to people who have lost those hours directly through the Services Australia system.

JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE]

PRIME MINISTER: I'll let the Treasurer speak to the second matter, but for individuals, they will have to go on, if they're in those first four, I think it was, Gladys, LGAs, they're eligible to go on this Friday and to make their claim for these new payments and then they are recurring. You don't need to go back in after that for the extent of the lockdown. For businesses, it's also a one step process. But the Treasurer can give you the timelines on the registration and application and payment timeframes for that.

TREASURER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE HON DOMINIC PERROTTET: Thanks, Prime Minister. So in relation to the small business grants, which you've already announced, applications can be made on the 19th of July. And in relation to the joint arrangement with the Commonwealth for that cash booster programme, expressions of interests will be open tomorrow. And we want those funds out the door as quickly as possible. But importantly, this provides certainty to businesses that they can keep their staff on. That's why all our programs have ensured that on application you must make sure that you do not reduce your headcount. We are going to get through this, it's a difficult time, but we want to keep as much cash flow going into businesses during this time. And we believe that the quantum of this programme, this unprecedented investment, will ensure that we'll get through the other side stronger than ever. In relation to the question on the individual payments, as the Prime Minister has said, once that application is made through Services Australia, it's then an ongoing payment for the length of a lockdown.

JOURNALIST: If expressions of interest open tomorrow, when will money go out the door?

TREASURER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE HON DOMINIC PERROTTET: As quickly as possible. Obviously, we want to make sure that those funds are verified. We're working very closely with Service NSW. We've had success in the past in relation to getting that money as quickly as possible to businesses who need it. In relation to small business application, as I said, on the 19th applications open, that's within six days, and payments will be processed by Service NSW within four days. So that's the payment of $15,000 for businesses with a reduction of 70 per cent turnover, a payment of $7,500 for businesses with a reduction of 50 per cent turnover. But those payments will be available for application on 19th of July. And in relation to the programme we're announcing today, in conjunction with the Commonwealth, expressions of interest will be open tomorrow, and we will have applications opened as quickly as possible and as close to the date that we have for those small business grants.

JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE] that lockdown does continue into next week?

PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE HON GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN: I've already made clear the unlikelihood of the lockdown finishing on Friday, and the numbers speak for themselves. And we'll have more to say about that tomorrow. But what this does is give us peace of mind and a breather for everybody in that when you provide that economic support for individuals and businesses, it gives us the freedom to do what we need on the health side by asking everybody to respect the advice that we're providing, but also having that confidence not to leave the house unless you absolutely have to. And this financial support, which we're very grateful, is a joint measure with the Commonwealth and ourselves, gives us that freedom, gives everybody that breather to be able to follow the health advice and to try and get out of this lockdown as quickly as we can. So I wouldn't read too much into the length of lockdown because none of us know that. But what we do know is that we have the financial support there so that individuals and families and businesses don't have to stress. And they know that for the duration of the lockdown, the support will be there and the support will be there, both from the Commonwealth and from the State Government working together to make sure every individual or business across the state has access to it, which is very important. And also, irrespective of when the payment goes in the bank accounts, and obviously we'd like that to happen as quickly as possible, it gives people peace of mind so that your bank or whomever you deal with has peace of mind the money is coming, it's there, and you can make decisions against that.

JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE] a completely new variant and it really changes the game and that we can't live with the Delta variant until a majority of our adult population here in New South Wales is vaccinated. If we can't live with the Delta variant and cases don't come under control and the health advice necessitates a longer lockdown, is the Commonwealth prepared to pay all of this cash until the vast majority of the adult population is vaccinated?

PRIME MINISTER: Well what I indicated at the outset was that what I'm announcing today is not just a partnership with New South Wales. What I'm announcing today is an upgrading of the Commonwealth Government's national response. So it is certainly our hope and ambition that we would not see lockdowns extending like we're seeing them here in New South Wales and other states and territories. But as I said, COVID-19 will set those rules. And so what we're saying is that when situations get like this, it is in the national interest that we ensure that a lockdown that is occurring here in New South Wales will be effective, it will be effective. And that Australians living here in New South Wales and across particularly the Greater Sydney area, know that the sacrifices they're making will get the job done and that we will support them through that. Help is here and help is on the way as well. That's I think our key message.

JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE] a lot are losing a lot more than that. Is it enough of an incentive for them to not sack staff?

PRIME MINISTER: Sure, it's a very good question. Now, first of all, I'd say you've got to look at it as a combination of both the business support and the support we're providing directly to individuals. So the $600 support, the business now no longer, if they've reduced hours of someone, they don't have to be as concerned as they were before under JobKeeper to make those payments. The Commonwealth Government is making those payments. So if you're an employer, and sadly you may have had casual employees or you're speaking to your permanent employees, and saying we really need you to do less hours at the moment because we can't afford to pay that, they can say ring 180 22 66 and the Commonwealth will be able to give you that income support to get through that period of time for a couple of weeks. So that would have otherwise gone through the business, now it's going direct to the person who needs that money. That means it's available right now. Help is there right now. And so if you get on that line, which is Friday for those first four LGAs, for the rest of the state and the broader greater metropolitan Sydney area, it's Monday, then you can access that. For the businesses, we have modelled this on the cash flow boost that we provided last year. And so to give you an example, the weekly payment that was made under the cash flow boost last year for businesses with a turnover of, say, $75,000 a year was $769 dollars. Under this program, it's $1,500. If you look at a business with a turnover of around $1 million, last time, then the payments that were made available back then were around $1,900 and they're $1,900 now. When you go to a business which had a turnover of some $5 million, then previously they were receiving a $3,846 cash boost per week, under this programme they're getting $7,692. See, what we've learnt during the pandemic is you do what works. And when you need to do it again, you do what works. And the support that has been provided through this cash flow boost is not only commensurate with what was provided last time, but in most cases it's actually greater because it needs to be more concentrated. It's kicking in in week four and will go for as long as the lockdown requires.

JOURNALIST: Just on the lockdown, the Treasurer reportedly disagreed with the Premier. You thought that there shouldn't be an extension of the lockdown. Is that still your view or have you been mugged by reality?

TREASURER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE HON DOMINIC PERROTTET: Not at all. I mean, I won't talk about discussions we have in crisis cabinet, but ultimately we've always balanced, here in our state, the economic needs with the health needs. And this is not just a health crisis. And to every single business and worker out there right across our state who is struggling right now, we say today that we have your back. And the Prime Minister has spoken about the challenges of different variants. The reality is, and the difficult reality is, is that as you see around the world, that as these variants change, there are always challenges as the vaccination period rolls out. And ultimately, we will have to learn to live alongside the virus. And we don't want to be in a position, we've always resisted going to lockdowns in this state. There has to be a balanced and proportionate response. We have always done that. We want to keep the people of New South Wales safe. We have done that. We've done that right across the country in a way that is world leading. And ultimately, we're in a position economically where New South Wales is stronger today than it was at the outset of the pandemic. So, yes, there are challenges facing our state and our country, but also we have come through the last 18 months and we'll come out stronger during this period of time, as well.

JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE] think that this can still go ahead in any realistic form?

TREASURER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE HON DOMINIC PERROTTET: We're committed to looking at the pilot. And obviously right now, the complete focus of the New South Wales Government is making sure we keep our people safe, we keep as many businesses in business and as many workers in jobs during this period of time. That is the Premier's focus, that is my focus, that is our entire crisis cabinet focus. But also that is a very important industry to the New South Wales economy. And we need to ensure that we get international students back into our state as quickly as possible. There are tens of thousands of men and women right across our state who rely on that industry for work. We're completely committed to doing it. And obviously we'll deal with this challenge that's in front of us now, this immediate challenge, and then we'll get back to work on ensuring that we bring back that industry to New South Wales. And importantly, I'll make this comment, when it comes to bringing back returning Australians, let's not forget that New South Wales has taken the lion's share of returning Australians. More than half of those Australians returning back to this country have come through Sydney. We have done the heavy lifting in relation to that. And we'll always act in the national interest in that space but ultimately, that is an industry that's our largest service export here in New South Wales, our second largest overall export. And it's important for many men and women right across our state who rely on that industry to provide for their families.

JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE] you told 7NEWS today that 80 per cent is the rate you would like to see, I think you were waiting on advice from them still. When it comes to you setting these thresholds, is that something that's going to be based purely on their advice or the health advice, or are there other factors that have to be weighed in?

PRIME MINISTER: Well there's always other factors. And what I said at the press conference we had here last week was that, of course, the decisions we're making will be informed, absolutely, the Premier and I and the other members of the National Cabinet, because as the Treasurer just rightly said, there are a range of interests here. And there are the economic interests, there are the health and wellbeing interests, and of course, there's the epidemiology which we've asked them to provide advice on. What the Doherty Institute can give to leaders is what the spectrum of risk is. Now, in the UK at the moment, they haven't quite reached 65 per cent on two doses. The UK Government has made a series of decisions. They're also seeing, we know, very high levels of cases and they've seen some escalation in the levels of hospitalisation. There are a lot of experiences that we're watching very closely around the world. And there is no simple, definitive pop out answer here. It's based on an assessment and evaluation of risk. And what we've asked the Doherty Institute to indicate to us is what that balance of risk is, and how you can then adjust measures to suit that risk to ensure that we meet all the objectives that we need to have as a country. What is important is that we continue to move as quickly as we possibly can. Certainly by this time next week and indeed earlier, we will have passed the mark of over 10 million doses and the vaccination programme continues to gather pace. And that is welcomed. The additional Pfizer doses that become available, the additional that were provided to New South Wales this week, the opening of new clinics and opening of new clinics, the Chester Hill clinic I understand is opening very, very soon, importantly, in south western Sydney. All of this is happening. And so it's important that people go and support that. And I believe that by the end of this year, we will have got in that position where we have offered everybody who seeks a vaccine, a vaccine, and we are aiming to have that percentage as high as it possibly can be. But on that note, can I thank again, can I thank the Premier, can I thank the Treasurer, can I thank Treasurer Frydenberg as well and all of our Treasury officials who have been burning the midnight oil over the course of these last few days, particularly last night, for the great work that they've been doing to bring together what I think is a very important package. We have always got through COVID together. Governments have got through it together, communities have got through it together, families have got through it together. And that will continue to be the case. This is a next level of partnership that is necessary to ensure the sacrifices that are being made across Greater Sydney and across New South Wales are going to get the results that we're looking for. And that is that we can move back into the position we were at some weeks ago and that we can get those people back to work, those jobs saved, Treasurer, and ensuring that we're in a position for the New South Wales economy to pick up where it left off, which has been the powerhouse of the national economy, frankly, during the course of the COVID pandemic. Thank you all very much for your attention.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43468

Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW

9 July 2021

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PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. National Cabinet met again this afternoon. We're going to continue to meet together on a weekly basis as we have been now for the past few weeks. As we particularly deal with the issues that are arising from the very serious situation with us here in Sydney. I want to start particularly by extending my thoughts to all fellow Sydneysiders who go into even firmer restrictions as of this evening and just simply say that we will get through it together. This is a very necessary set of restrictions that have been put in place by the New South Wales Government. I strongly support them and the Commonwealth Government will continue to provide the support necessary to give effect to those restrictions and to ensure that the New South Wales economy and the people of Sydney in particular are supported through what is this very difficult time. Many other cities, particularly down in Victoria and Melbourne, have gone through this before, and Sydneysiders, I have no doubt, will continue to push through. I know it's tiring. I know it's exasperating. I know it's frustrating. But we need to keep pushing through. And so my thoughts are with all of my fellow Sydneysiders today.

The meeting of the National Cabinet today considered a wide range of issues, most of which was following through on decisions we'd taken previously and updating on those actions in particular, in addition to getting updates from the New South Wales Premier on the situation here in New South Wales and other premiers were very fulsome in extending their support to New South Wales, just as New South Wales has done in so many other cases when other states have found themselves in difficulty. One of the pleasing elements of the report, we heard today was the the flow on from the Tanami Mine issue, where we had a worker who'd been through Queensland and into the mine. That outbreak has been able to be contained. That was one that was very seriously concerning us over the last couple of weeks. And so the practises put in place by the mine operators there proved to be very effective and very helpful. And we thank them for the way they did that. And it's a reminder that across so many workplaces in Australia, over the course of the pandemic, very good COVIDSafe practises have been put in place and that is enabled, particularly our heavy industry, to keep operating and keep operating safely. And on this occasion, where there had been a breach, still because of the practises and processes they had in place, it meant that they could be tracked down very, very quickly.

We're also noted today that in our own region, not only here in Australia and here in Sydney, but not far from Australia, particularly in Indonesia and of course in Fiji, they are facing even more serious circumstances. And in both cases, the Commonwealth Government, the Australian Government has been reaching out to provide that support to both Fiji and to Indonesia. And I was in contact earlier this week with the Indonesian President, President Widodo, only this week to that end.

We noted that the Doherty Institute would be coming back to us over the course of this month. The First Secretaries Group, which is the heads of the director-generals of the Premier's Departments and the Secretary of my own Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, will be pulling that work together of the Doherty Institute. That will actually set out what the spectrum of risk is across various levels of vaccination in the population and what the levels of vaccination in high risk vulnerable groups are and what the risk is then associated with COVID being in the community. That information will be combined together with the passage of the health system and the advice of Treasury and Treasury Secretaries around the country to ensure we get the best assessment of what the thresholds are to move from phase one to phase two to phase three and ultimately phase four, which I outlined to you last Friday. So that work is in process. The Doherty Institute are continuing that work.

On the vaccine rollout today, the Lieutenant General Frewen was able to update the National Cabinet on the arrangements that have been put in place, as with Pfizer, which is bringing forward those vaccines out of our vaccine purchases, which were to be in place over the course of the year. And the new horizons, as their defined by Lieutenant General Frewen, had been advised to the team leads in each of the states and territories on the projected distribution from those new brought forward supplies that have been, will come available this month that will see us rise to a million a week. That will see us move from 2.8 to over 4.5 million doses coming in from Pfizer in August. This is going to greatly assist the further rollout of the vaccine programme.

And today we have again seen very strong numbers when it comes to the vaccine programme. The vaccine numbers that have been released today show the second highest day yesterday that we have seen some 164,773 doses administered. That gets us to 8.8 or rather 8.9 million doses as present. That would likely see us hit 9 million doses by the end of this week, most likely by the time we report again tomorrow. And so we will then be hitting that very important mark of a million doses every week. You hit your marks there, you hit your straps on those sort of a vaccination roll out as we are now achieving. And that puts us in a very strong place to be able to get this job done as we move towards the end of the year and indeed, perhaps sooner than that, to ensure that everyone who was seeking to have a vaccine would be able to have one.

We also reported today and importantly did a stock take and that will continue over the course of the next week in terms of our health system capacity. Now, what I'm referring to there is you'll recall at the start of the pandemic that one of our key issues was ensuring that we had sufficient respirators and all of that equipment in place in the event of a very serious outbreak. Now, what we was able to report today, was the ICU capacity currently has Australia with 2,020 spare ventilators nationally with an expansion capacity of some 7,500 ventilated ICU beds to treat hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Now states and territories, this will be a continued standing item on our National Cabinet agenda to ensure that we have been able to maintain that health system capability to deal with any potential outbreaks. And there were no concerns expressed today by premiers or chief ministers in terms of their preparedness of their hospital networks to deal with any potential outbreaks. And the hospital capacity here in New South Wales, in Sydney in particular, is proving to be more than up to the task of what is currently presenting.

Also note this Sunday, and Lieutenant General Frewen, will have more to say about that on Sunday, there will be a new campaign launched in relation to the vaccination programme. This is the next phase of those communication campaigns. It coincides neatly with the additional supply that has been brought forward to support the vaccination programme.

On aged care, today, we received the final presentations to Lieutenant General Frewen in terms of the inreach and hub systems being put in place to support vaccination of aged care workers. We also discussed an incentive system today that was suggested by Premier McGowan, which I think is an excellent idea, we'll be engaging with the corporate sector as to how that can be put in place to incentivise aged care workers as another way of ensuring that if those levels of vaccination amongst aged care workers. I had confirmation from all states and territories, except Victoria, today that they would be introducing public health orders to mandate the vaccine for aged care workers. I stress, though, that in Victoria that is not a decision of the Premier or the Minister. Under their legislation that is an independent, statutorily independent decision of the Chief Health Officer of Victoria. So that person is the only one who is authorised to decide whether to put in place a public health order. And so I would have to refer you to the Chief Health Officer in Victoria as to what his intentions are regarding the mandating of vaccines for aged care workers.

There was also papers received from the medical expert panel that dealt with the vaccination of disability care workers. And while they're not at this point recommending mandating of the vaccinations for disability care workers, they are strongly recommending it. And so with that corporate programme that can be used to incentivise vaccinations for aged care workers, we would look to extend that to disability care workers as well. We also considered for what are called mobility workers, those working in the air transport sector and other transport sectors as to whether there was a requirement for mandatory vaccinations there. That is not being recommended at this stage. But, of course, across all the community where you're able to get those vaccinations, then of course, we strongly encourage, particularly when you're working in an area which would bring you into contact with more people.

We also agreed today that a National Cabinet pilot would be established for home quarantine. That would be done in a lead jurisdiction. And South Australia has indicated their intention to go forward as the host jurisdiction for that home quarantine trial, which would be a two week quarantine period based on the advice received from the medical expert panel. And we'll be working with South Australia to put that pilot in place as soon as possible. That will be a transparent project with all the other states and territories. It will be run, of course, by South Australia, but with the active engagement and visibility of all the other states and territories, so they are in a position to pick up that project on the completion of a successful pilot programme.

In relation to inbound and outbound travel. On inbound, since the announcement made last week, we have 29 now scheduled facilitated commercial flights that will be going into Darwin. That should see us taking in around 4,000 people a month into Howard Springs and fully utilising, ultimately the quarantine capacity at the National Resilience Facility at Howard Springs and I thank the Northern Territory Government for their close cooperation in getting those arrangements in place. We also have the Australian Travel Declaration, which will be from the 16th of July, we'll be including information on inbound arrivals vaccination status. That will be done through what is called attestation. This is not linked up to other international databases at this stage. This would be requiring people to attest, whether they have received a vaccination, the vaccination that they have received, the date of that vaccination and the jurisdiction in which they receive that vaccination. That will provide information, particularly to the states who will be in a position then, potentially to look at how they're managing quarantine operations in their state, as the Commonwealth can with the Northern Territory Government at Howard Springs to look at ways that vaccinated and non-vaccinated travellers can be treated in the quarantine programme. Obviously, those who are vaccinated have a much lower risk of infection than those who are not vaccinated.

And finally, on outbound, it will be our strong preference for those who are who are given an exemption. And there are very clear and limited reasons why people are able to travel outbound presently. And that is our strong preference that people will be vaccinated if they're travelling overseas. That reduces the risk posed to them personally, because as we know, COVID is riddled through many countries around the world and many of the places Australians would be travelling to. And that also, of course, reduces the risk of when they return to Australia. Now, for those who are unable for medical reasons to receive a vaccination or at this point in the cycle, they may not have access to that vaccination, well they are obviously issues that will be taken into account by the Border Force Commissioner in considering those arrangements. Now, those last points that I make about outbound travel, facilitated commercial flights, the Australian Travel Declaration, they are all decisions that the Commonwealth Government and they were noted today by the National Cabinet. So happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, now that the Pfizer supplies are being brought forward, will under 40s be able to be vaccinated in August?

PRIME MINISTER: I couldn't quite hear the last part of that question.

JOURNALIST: Will under 40s be able to be vaccinated in August?

PRIME MINISTER: Those decisions at present haven't changed in terms of the age eligibility, and they will be considered further based on this supply by Lieutenant General Frewen, in concert with the medical advice that he receives, because right now our focus remains on getting people who are aged over 70 vaccinated. Now, we are over that 70 per cent mark, 72 per cent it was yesterday, of those over 70 who received that first dose. Older Australians are still the most vulnerable, and that's why we would implore people who have eligibility for those vaccines now to go and get them. And, particularly if you're waiting on your second dose and it's on AstraZeneca, well as I said yesterday, the health advice I've received from Professor Kelly as well as Professor Murphy is that the balance of risk is that you should seek to have that at least at eight weeks.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Labor's tried very hard today to make out that this Pfizer news isn't really anything new or particularly noteworthy. What's your response to that?

PRIME MINISTER: Labor's always hoping for the worst. In the middle of a pandemic, this is very disappointing and they're wrong. We've been able to bring forward these important doses out of our contracted programme, which means they're available now, in July. It's real. I don't understand why Labor always hopes for the worst. I mean they hope that 100,000, 150,000 people have lost their job at the end of JobKeeper. They were wrong. And they're wrong about this, too. They should just get behind the programme and stop trying to play politics.

JOURNALIST: On the Pfizer changes, the delivery dates and the numbers that they're talking about today do appear pretty similar to what's been announced previously. Even Pfizer felt the need to issue a statement clarifying there were no additional doses coming this year. So …

PRIME MINISTER: I never said there were additional doses. They're bringing forward doses.

JOURNALIST: So, I know, but Pfizer felt the need to clarify that. And, so, are we really talking about, you know, changes here that are a game changer for our vaccination rollout, and if it is a game changer then what does that say about the situation so far?

PRIME MINISTER: What it says is that we will have more doses being distributed this month than we had planned to distribute this month and quite significantly more, and more next month, as well.

JOURNALIST: So, are these changes a game changer?

PRIME MINISTER? We've been bringing forward the doses, which is what we've been seeking to do. And the reason we've had to bring forward those doses is because of the ATAGI advice on AstraZeneca, which has limited the use of that vaccine to be the workhorse of the vaccination programme. And so since we've had that advice, and so that since that impact has been made on the vaccination programme, it has been our priority to work with Pfizer to bring forward the doses that we've contracted and we've been successful in doing that.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, does the Government have to pay an extra price to bring forward these doses of Pfizer? And, sorry if you've addressed this it's hard to hear back here.

PRIME MINISTER: Sure.

JOURNALIST: What is the difference, how long will it be when those vaccines actually land and then they end up in people's arms?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the first point, I mean, the commercial arrangements between us and Pfizer are not matters that we can go into for commercial in confidence reasons. And so don't draw any conclusion from that. That's been our practice from the outset, and that will continue. In relation to the availability of those doses well, we've gone from 300 to 350,000, that ramps up further to a million, and and even more so or thereabouts when we get into August, because we'll have around about four and a half million doses next month. It takes around about a week to 10 days or thereabouts from arrival, up to, and it can be less than that for those distributions once they come in to go through the process and and for them to be making their way out to the GP surgeries or to the state-based vaccination clinics or which ever the point of presence is through which those vaccines are being distributed. We've got 1,300, 1,300 extra GP's on the job this month to be supporting the rollout of these additional Pfizer vaccines. But the workhorse still remains the job that needs to be done, with the AstraZeneca vaccines as well, particularly for those who are aged over 70, but also for those who are aged over 60 and who are going through their second doses, encouraging them to do just that. It's incredibly important. But, we're now, this time tomorrow we'll be talking about a million doses a week. Now that's what you need to hit in order to get this job done. And we've worked hard to get over the challenges that we've had in the vaccination programme over the course of the last four months. It's been a tough job. We've got on top of that. We're now hitting those a million a week as of tomorrow we believe that will see us really be able to get this job done in the months ahead.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is Sydney in the position that it's in because your vaccine rollout has been so slow?

PRIME MINISTER: No, absolutely not. There's not.

JOURNALIST: We're facing the prospect of a very long lockdown compared to Melbourne.

PRIME MINISTER: There's not a country in the world other than Israel that has a vaccination rate of two doses more than 65 per cent. Israel is the only country in the world that has that. Now in Australia, in Australia the number of cases we have had in our community means that say, compared to the United Kingdom, which had as many cases in one day this week as we've had in 18 months. So there's far more antibodies that exist say in the UK in the general population than in Australia. And that's thankfully so, because we've saved over 30,000 lives in this country by ensuring that we didn't lose that battle again, in the first round against the coronavirus. And, so, it was always known at this time of the year, in July of this year, that we would still be in the suppression phase. And, that means that in the suppression phase you need to keep the systems as tight as possible. We've had breaches here, there have been breaches in other places. And when there are breaches it's about trying to contain it as quickly as possible and move as quickly as possible to get us in that situation which is what the New South Wales Government is doing.

JOURNALIST: Can you tell us the month when under 40s will now be eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, and also ...

PRIME MINISTER: I'll leave that to Lieutenant General Frewen and that will be based on the medical advice and the supplies as he's rolling those out to meet the priorities of the vaccination programme, which, as I said, is the most vulnerable of the population, which is those who are over seventy.

JOURNALIST: Will any of those Pfizer vaccines be diverted to Sydney to help with the current outbreak?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, as I announced yesterday, we've provided an additional 150,000, brought forward an 150,000 vaccines for New South Wales from the Pfizer distributions, and 150,000 of AstraZeneca. So, New South Wales is receiving 300,000 additional vaccines next week, and that is not at the expense of what were the planned distributions of vaccines to other states prior to that announcement.

JOURNALIST: With the Pfizer vaccine, have we considered pushing out the interval between doses so that the supplies we do have can be used, say in Sydney during the current outbreak, to get more first doses in arms quicker?

PRIME MINISTER: This is why we just put an additional 300,000 doses into New South Wales next week.

JOURNALIST: Is there a possibility that you might extend JobKeeper, and do you agree with Philip Lowe who said that migration had been suppressing wages?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're not bringing back JobKeeper. What we put in place is the COVID Disaster Payment, which is set at the level that JobKeeper was at when JobKeeper ended at the end of March. We're in the position now where we have a very targeted need here in the Sydney metropolitan area. It's not a national, JobKeeper was a nationwide programme. This enables us to directly make payments to people who need that help, and those payments, as we eased the restrictions on those payments yesterday by waving liquid assets just yesterday, means that those payments will be available to more people in the Sydney metropolitan area that are, that need that additional support. So, we will keep working with the New South Wales Government. I was talking to their Treasurer today, again, obviously had the Premier on the National Cabinet call today also, on what may be required pending what further decisions the New South Wales Government may have to make to suppress this latest outbreak. So, we'll work specifically in a partnered way on that and we'll do the design and the targeting in a way that's appropriate to that problem. In relation to the debate about migration and wages, I mean, we're in a quite an extraordinary, an extraordinary situation at the moment. It's not common to have net migration which is negative in this country, and for it certainly to be at zero. So, that is an extraordinary set of circumstances. That's obviously put some constrictions on the labour market. But, at the same time, we're seeing job rate, jobs picked up very, very quickly. I mean, here, particularly here in New South Wales, as I was discussing with the Treasury Secretary and the Treasurer today and yesterday, New South Wales comes into this most recent outbreak after some very strong performances. The significant levels that we're seeing on the savings ratios for the most recent national accounts, which is elevated still to the levels of the global financial crisis and higher. So, a lot of Australians have been building up their balance sheets over the course of the last 12 months, which is giving them a bit of a buffer at the moment, it's not big, I'm not pretending it's big, but that means that they're in a position for short periods of time to be able to deal with this in a way that perhaps they weren't able to do before. And, the labour market is incredibly strong. When we introduced JobKeeper, we were looking at a million people losing their jobs. Now, the labour market nationally, and even still here in New South Wales, is strong. And, so, so long as we can get on top of this in a reasonable period of time, then we anticipate that the economic impacts of this can be [inaudible].

JOURNALIST: What do you think of the pub in Melbourne that's been asked by the TGA not to give free beers with vaccines?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Health Minister and I noticed this yesterday evening, and the Health Minister I asked to have a chat with the TGA. I mean, the rule is that which they, they're just doing their job, the TGA, and the rule is that companies shouldn't be able to provide incentives of alcohol or cigarettes to get people to buy prescription medicines. Now, that's a common sense regulation. But, this is a national interest vaccine programme and we'll be making some changes to ensure that these good hearted, good natured sort of initiatives that people may take on of their own volition, which is the case of the PA in Victoria, or indeed of the type of thing that I've just indicated where we're seeking to incentivise through the corporate sector vaccination of aged care workers or other important employment groups, and we just want to make sure that the rules are common sense. I think it was done in good faith and in good spirit by the public and down at the PA in Melbourne. But I think, also, to be fair to the TGA, they're just doing their job and they've got to follow the letter of the law there. So, we'll tidy that up. Common sense will reign once again, and cheers to the PA.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what's the earliest date that the home quarantine trial will begin in South Australia?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, they'll be working that through now …

JOURNALIST: Can you give us a month of when that could be…

PRIME MINISTER: I can't at this point. South Australia only indicated sort of formally today at today's meeting that they'll, they intend to host that pilot. And, so we will work with them now to set up the timeframes and how they will put together transparency arrangements with the other states and territories. I think this is an important development. I think it's trialling out these new quarantine arrangements, which will take significant pressure off - if it's successful, of course - the quarantine, the formal quarantine system. If you're able to make this work, it means in phases, particularly phase three, but even potentially in phase two, you have a greater opportunity for Australians who are vaccinated to be able to leave Australia and come back and put no pressure on the hotel quarantine system. And, that can see some of these restrictions ease with very low risk. The programme will focus on countries, low risk countries. That's the advice that's come through. And, so, South Australia will be very mindful of that as well. And it'll, and the advice is also principally at first to focus on Australian vaccinations, as well. So, thank you very much, everyone.

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https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43463

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.

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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

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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