Speeches
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
1 October 2021
Prime Minister: Good afternoon, everyone. I said before I headed overseas that I’d be considering the Ministry while I was away and making announcements on my return, and I'm pleased to announce the following changes to the Ministry. These changes provide a timely opportunity to reinforce some of the key issues the Government is progressing, especially following on from the successful series of meetings that we recently held in Washington, both the AUKUS arrangements, that are now coming to place, and, of course, the Quad.
Angus Taylor, in addition to his responsibilities for Energy and Emissions Reduction, will take on the responsibilities of Industry, and be the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. When I first appointed Angus to being the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, I said his job was to be the Minister for getting electricity prices down. He's done a good job there. His job here is to ensure the sovereignty of Australia, to ensure our home-grown capabilities in critical supplies is there for the future, building on the Modern Manufacturing Initiative and the important programs right across a suite of areas that we're engaged in. The clean energy technology supply chains of the future. The Clean Energy Summit that will be held in the first half of next year, the first quarter of next year. These are important initiatives for Australia's sovereignty, and as Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, he'll be pursuing those with great gusto and great professionalism and skill, in manufacturing, in critical supply chains and in energy.
Melissa Price, the Minister for Defence Industry, will be taking on the additional portfolio responsibility of Minister for Science and Technology. Now, this will complement her Defence Industry responsibilities very significantly. It is timely, particularly given the AUKUS arrangements, which will see us be working together with the United States and the United Kingdom, linking up our industry, our science and technology supply chains. Our scientists, our entrepreneurs, our technologists and others, working together to create opportunities in areas like quantum and artificial intelligence. Of course, these responsibilities will be pursued for right across the economy, both in civil and defence uses. But, it is timely to bring those two together, and she will be sworn into the Industry portfolio to perform those responsibilities when it comes to science and technology. There is also the working together with organisations like ANSTO and the CSIRO in addressing the nuclear capabilities that will be necessary under the nuclear submarine program.
And I’m, congratulate both Melissa and Angus. They have been strongly performing Ministers. I recently promoted Melissa again to the Cabinet and she's been hitting her marks and doing a terrific job, and it's great to have her in these new roles.
I'll be promoting Alex Hawke, the Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs, to the Cabinet. He will be retaining all of his existing responsibilities but joining the Cabinet to fill that vacancy, and it's important, not only because of the strong performance he's shown in the Ministerial portfolios I've entrusted him with, but it also brings back, pleasingly, the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs portfolios into the Cabinet. Minister Hawke did an absolutely extraordinary job most recently in the evacuation from Kabul. That was an incredibly complex exercise, and it was done with an enormous amount of effort and great skill and professionalism, and I'm very pleased to be welcoming Minister Hawke to the Cabinet.
My Assistant Minister, Ben Morton, will be promoted to the Ministry, where he will be taking on the responsibilities of Special Minister of State, Minister for Public Service, and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet. That will take in his current responsibilities and expanding them to get the cost of regulation and compliance down, not just across the Commonwealth, but working with me and the Treasurer right across the federation. And he'll be assisting me, particularly with federation responsibilities, the National Federation Reform Council, and supporting my role in the National Cabinet.
Tim Wilson will enter the Executive and he'll take on the responsibility of Assistant Minister Assisting the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. Tim will bring a great deal of advocacy and skills to that portfolio as we continue to articulate and bring people together around our plans for emissions reduction, on Australia's energy future, the transition to the new energy economy, and, of course, supporting the Minister for Industry, along with Assistant Minister Duniam, in driving forward that sovereign capability across our manufacturing base, and I congratulate Tim on his elevation to the Executive. He's worked extremely hard. Before the last election, there was no one more passionate in advocating the case when it came to the retirees tax. He was successful in that. And I believe he'll be as successful with these new responsibilities.
Today, we also passed some important milestones, which I want to come back to in a moment, in relation to the vaccine program. But, I want to say this. Australia has set records when it comes to saving lives and saving livelihoods during the course of the pandemic. We've saved more than 30,000 lives. More than a million people have got themselves back into jobs, and our economic performance has worked through this global pandemic. But, Australians have made great sacrifices to achieve that result. And that has been a heavy burden, not being able to go to funerals, children cannot, being able to go to school, families not to be able to come together, significant religious celebrations, not being able to sing in church. All of these things, whether they be seen as small sacrifices or very great sacrifices, they have imposed a heavy burden on Australians. It's time to give Australians their lives back. We've saved lives. We've saved livelihoods. But, we must work together to ensure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had in this country. And we must work together to achieve that goal. That's what the National Plan is all about.
When I stood before this very lectern last time I was in quarantine, and we set out that National Plan, that deal with Australians which said, let's get vaccinated and let's get on with it. And Australians have responded to that remarkably and I'm so grateful, as we continue to move up that board, particularly in the OECD, with our vaccination rates. And when you look at the vaccination rates now, today, we go past the United States on first doses. We go past the United States on first doses. Twenty-eight million doses now having been realised; 341,000 just yesterday. Another record outcome. We have moved past the US, and 55 per cent of the adult population over 16 is now vaccinated at the end of September. That's 20 points up on where it was a month ago. Securing those additional vaccines, which I knew were necessary to keep driving those vaccination rates forward in September, has been remarkably successful. And that is giving us the opportunity to get Australia ready for take off.
It is, will be time very soon that we will be able to open those international borders again, and that will enable Australians who are fully vaccinated, and Australians and residents of Australia who are overseas who are fully vaccinated, to be able to travel again and to be able to lift those caps on our airports in states where they have moved into Phase C of the program. And that is where Australia is now preparing to move. This will happen next month. That's when it will start happening, from next month, as states move into those 80 per cent vaccination rates. We have already got the technology and the other things in place that will support those states being able, under Phase C of the plan, to enable their residents and citizens to leave the country and return, and also those residents and Australians who are overseas to return to Australia as, if they are vaccinated, with uncapped restrictions on their arrival in those states which have moved into that phase.
So, let me explain that a little more, what needs to happen for that to occur, to reopen safely and to stay safely open under our National Plan. Firstly, we need home quarantine pilots in New South Wales and South Australia to conclude and be successful, so they can be rolled out at scale. That’s seven-day home quarantine for Australian citizens and permanent residents fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved for use in Australia or recognised by the TGA, and 14-day managed quarantine for anyone not vaccinated or vaccinated with a vaccine not approved or recognised by the TGA. So, as I said in the National Plan, we will move to a phase where there will be caps lifted if you're vaccinated. Caps will remain for non-vaccinated, and there will be the managed quarantine process for those 14 days.
We're also offering facilitated commercial flights for Australians overseas into states and territories that agree to commence those home quarantine trials. And I look forward to discussing that further with my colleagues this afternoon.
Once changes are made in November, the current overseas travel restrictions related to COVID-19 will be removed, and Australians in those states will be able to travel, as I've said, and we'll be working towards complete quarantine-free travel for certain countries, such as New Zealand, when it is safe to do so.
Thirdly, Australians who want to travel overseas, once restrictions are removed, will be able to access an internationally recognised proof of vaccination document that will be in the coming weeks, to prove their vaccination status abroad. And that proof of vaccination for international travel will include a QR code that is readable globally. It works in with the ICAO systems that are used all around the world.
Fourth, in addition to the four COVID-19 vaccines that have also been approved and registered for use by the TGA, the TGA has also been reviewing other vaccines in widespread use around the world. And, today, the TGA has published its initial assessment of two other vaccines, and it has advised that these vaccines should be approved and recognised vaccines for the purpose of determining incoming international travellers. Those vaccines are Sinovac and Covishield. They will be particularly important for those coming from countries where those vaccines are being used. India is an obvious one of those, as is China and other countries throughout South East Asia. That will be important, also, when we move to the phase, which I believe will be occurring next year in some states, particularly in my discussions with New South Wales, where those students, skilled migrants, and perhaps sooner, will be able to come into the country and have those vaccines recognised as we move forward.
So, this is an important next step in the National Plan. This is set out in the National Plan. No surprises here. This is what we agreed to do. That we said to Australians, we get to 80 per cent, you can leave the country and you can come back again. If you're overseas, you should be able to come back, if you're a fully vaccinated Australian resident or citizen. I'm going to keep the deal with Australians when it comes to the National Plan. I'm going to keep the deal which said, you go and get vaccinated, and we're going to ensure that the many liberties and opportunities that you have will be restored. It is a great, it is a great and terrible thing that they have had to be taken away because of the pandemic. We've all understood it. We've all worked through it. We've all suffered through it. But, the time has come to give Australians their lives back. We're getting ready for that, and Australia will be ready for take off very soon. David.
Journalist: Just on Victoria, there's been a surge in cases in Victoria. That's got some people worried about opening up and thinking that opening up should be delayed. What's your response on whether the case numbers in Victoria are an argument for any delay? And, secondly, on international travel, Australians at the moment can get a seat on a plane to leave the country, they can't get a seat on a plane to come back. What, I mean, are you in talks with any airlines and others about increasing the capacity to allow travel?
Prime Minister: Well, on the first point, I would just point you to the New South Wales experience. Get vaccinated. Get vaccinated. Get vaccinated. That's what puts the protection in the community, in addition to how New South Wales has been in lockdown for some time now. But, as we've seen the escalation of their vaccination rates, we have seen the growth in cases come off and, in fact, start to fall. Victoria went into this, later than New South Wales, but they’ve followed a very similar trajectory - slightly above, actually and in continuing to increase the vaccination rates in Victoria when they hit those marks of 80 per cent. Eighty per cent vaccination across the population in Victoria is the same as 80 per cent vaccination of a population across New South Wales. It’ll have the same protections, the same impacts, and it will afford the same opportunities. And, so, they need to do what they need to do for now. But, the most important thing is to get Australians in all states and territories vaccinated. That's the deal of the National Plan, and that’s the deal we need to honour.
Journalist: PM, Queensland has said that it won’t open its border to New South Wales, ACT and Victoria.
Prime Minister: I can’t quite hear, I’m sorry.
Journalist: Sorry.
Prime Minister: Don’t come closer because the Chief Medical, Health Officer of the ACT will get upset.
Journalist: Sorry. Ok. Queensland has said that it won’t open its border to ACT, Victoria and New South Wales until it receives a big cash injection from the Commonwealth to improve its hospital capacity. What do you say to this, especially during, you know, the chief ministers and premiers have had 18 months to prepare for the inevitable opening of the international border?
Prime Minister: Sure. Well, first of all, let me be clear. 80 per cent vaccinations in New South Wales, if vaccination rates are lower in Queensland, then I imagine Queensland and Western Australia and other states who have lower rates of vaccination, that haven't moved into Phase C, will continue to have some restrictions. I would expect that. But, that shouldn't stop people from New South Wales or Victoria being able to travel or come back in larger numbers, and they will come back through. I suspect we'll see Victoria follow suit at some point. I know the Premier is keen on achieving that, when that's safe to do so, as well. So, we're not, the question is, well, how can you go to Bali or Fiji, but you can't go to Queensland? I’m sure there's plenty of tourism operators in Queensland who will be asking that question. But, when vaccination rates hit 80 per cent in Queensland, well then there'll be opportunity for Queensland to to join an open country when they hit that mark.
I've noted the comments that have been made on the hospitals. Our Government has increased funding for hospitals across the states by over 70 per cent since we came to Government. The states have increased their spending by about just over 40 per cent. So, if they would like to match us, then I'm sure they're going to be able to close the gap. Been a lot of talk about what the responsibilities of the states are. I can tell you what one of them is, run your public hospitals and get them ready to deal with any surge demand that would come. There has been a lot of opportunity to prepare for this. And, I must say, it's been a high priority item of the National Cabinet, and we'll be considering that again today. But, I don't think the pandemic should be used as an excuse for shakedown politics. They just need to get on with the job, get their hospitals ready. We have showered the states in cash when it comes to the health system, to support them through COVID, when it comes to supporting their industries and economies, whether it be JobKeeper or the more recent economic supports or the COVID Disaster Payment. The Commonwealth has more than stepped up when it has come to steering and carrying state economies through this crisis. Their job is to get the public hospitals ready to go.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Gladys Berejiklian has resigned. What's your reaction? Do you believe she's acted corruptly?
Prime Minister: Well, I’ve been standing here while that's been happening, so I have no knowledge of what the Premier has said today. I can only take that on face value, as what you’ve presented me here today. Gladys is a, is a dear friend of mine. We've known each other for a long time. She has displayed heroic qualities, heroic qualities as the Premier of New South Wales. I have worked with her extremely closely and she has always been a vibrant spirit when it comes to our debates, doing the best for the people of New South Wales. I know how much she is trusted and respected by the people of New South Wales, and I have no doubt that Gladys will always conduct herself in a way that suits the integrity of the office that she's held. And I know how seriously she takes that trust. I've always found Gladys to be a person of the highest integrity. She has been a trusted friend and a, a very respected colleague. I wish her well, if that is the case, and I know that the great work that she has done as New South Wales Premier, throughout the course of this pandemic, will be continued by her Government, who will be a great partner of the Federal Government in ensuring that we move the country forward. Sam.
Journalist: Prime Minister, just in relation to international travel. The UK obviously had a red light, green light system that recently got removed. You seem to be proposing red light, green light, but maybe only for unvaccinated. Is it the case that if you're vaccinated, you can basically go wherever you want without worrying about a traffic light system? And, in relation to today’s announcements, you're opening the borders, you're reshuffling the Cabinet. There’ll be people again that are saying, are you going to an early election this year? What can you tell them?
Prime Minister: No. I've been very clear about this over a very long time. I don't know what more I have to say to the press gallery here in Canberra. I've probably been more clear about that than any other Prime Minister. So you'll have to fill your pages with something else.
On the other serious point, though, we won't be going down the red light, green light path. We'll be treating this like we do travel advice across travel more generally. It is currently the case that you go to the DFAT website and we might be saying do not travel to particular places currently because of any number of threats. They can be health threats in those countries. They can be terror threats or security threats. And we'll treat COVID the same. And if there are places that we don't believe, based on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer, that we should be giving that do not travel advice or some caution in relation to travel to those places for vaccinated Australians, then we'll provide the advice that way. So rather than running a league table of green light and red light countries, you can go where you want to go. But that is subject only to the normal restrictions and advice that is provided by DFAT, which is put there for people's safety.
Now, what we are saying, though, Sam, is that vaccinated Australians will be able to travel. At this point, we are not saying unvaccinated Australians can travel because that would be a risk to themselves and a risk to themselves, their own health, because their likelihood of contracting the virus overseas pretty much anywhere, because it's a global pandemic is far higher than for a vaccinated person, obviously, and then risks the importation further of the virus back into Australia. So that's a common sense health position. It's frankly a position being taken by many airlines and others even before governments make decisions.
To the point, I think you were saying about the airlines before, David, I'm sorry I passed over that question. This announcement today has been flagged with the airlines. They will be playing a key role in the process for vaccinated Australians to depart the country. So when you're checking in, they'll be playing a role there with the vaccination, a record of vaccination. So they're a key partner in this process. And this opens up a significant source of demand when we get into November. That's why I'm saying it in October. So there's plenty of time now for the airlines to go and prepare and plan, look at their demand, not just Qantas and Virgin, but many other airlines as well. And I think the demand for all of this will ensure that we'll see increased number of flights. Now, the facilitated commercial flights I'm talking about, that's now, right now, to assist with the trials of home quarantine. So while the Commonwealth will be ready within weeks, if not before, for this to swing into action, and while New South Wales, I suspect, will hit 80 per cent before the end of this month, perhaps or early in November, the trigger to enable people to leave and come back and lift those caps, that will be a function of home quarantine being enforced at scale.
Journalist: Prime Minister, just on the international travel, you've announced this will take place next month. That's just in time for the G20 and COP26. Will you be going to both of those summits in person?
Prime Minister: Well, as I understand it right now, when those are taking place, we will still be subject to 14 days quarantine, based on my understanding of where states and territories are. So I must say, look, it's a very important summit. And as you know, the government is coming together around the commitments we will make there. And we'll work through that process as we are over the weeks ahead. It is a very important summit, as is the G20. I will have spent, if I do that, a total of four times, 14 day quarantine, basically in this building, not being able to engage in my normal duties around the country as much as I would like to. That's a long time for a prime minister to be in quarantine in a six month period. What matters is the commitments. What matters is the commitments that we will make. What matters is the policies that Australia will go forward for. What matters is being able to communicate to Australians what our plan means. Our plan will be important and Australia will always carry its weight when it comes to emissions reduction. We do now. Over 20 per cent emissions reduction. There are plenty of countries out there who have lots of ambition, but frankly don't have the performance to back up what Australia can in terms of what we've achieved. So I am very confident in Australia's position about this and my first and most important group that I need to talk to about our plan is not overseas. It's right here in Australia. It's talking to people in regional Australia, how the Deputy Prime Minister and I believe our plan will help them in their communities, how our plan will help them realise their future. I know there's a lot of international interests, but the interests I'm focused on is that of Australians where they live and what this plan will mean for them.
Journalist: [inaudible] unusual situation where people from Sydney and Melbourne are likely going to be able to go overseas before they can go back to WA. Mark McGowan's given no clear date on when he intends to reopen the hard border. Is that creating a disincentive for vaccination for people in WA at the moment? And just separately, you promoted a number of WA MPs, Ben Morton and Melissa Price. How much was WA voters a consideration in making those decisions?
Prime Minister: Well, on the first point, when people could fly back into Sydney and we discussed this at the last national cabinet meeting, that'll be the first major port that's open in Australia because of their success. And I pay tribute to the work that Premier Berejiklian has been working with us to get that job done under the National Vaccination Programme. They will be the first to go through this gate. Now, Sydney is the biggest arrivals port for Australia. That's good news if you're anywhere around the world, because that's where most of the flights go. Now, if you live in another state, what will occur is obviously before you leave, you'll need to know that it may well be that your state may not let you back into your state. And so you'll need to remain in New South Wales until they let you do that. Now, that is a matter for premiers. That is a matter for states as to how they manage that. But what I'm not going to do is I'm not going to stop people coming back to Australia because other states and territories are where they are at. I want us to get moving. I want us to get moving. I want people to be able to come home. I want people to get vaccinated. And I want that incentive to be there, which says, let's get vaccinated, let's open up. Now, that's a message for the whole country, not just in Sydney, where they've been in lockdown and across New South Wales and Victoria, where they're in lockdown and here in the ACT. It's a message for the whole country. Sure, it's going to come with some challenges. Sure, it's going to come with some tests. And yes, it can only happen when we exceed those 80 per cent vaccination rates. And if those states haven't reached those marks and that it's totally understandable, as is provided for under the national plan. But we've got to get it done because Australians want their lives back and that's what we want to deliver.
Journalist: We haven't had the opportunity to ask you since your predecessor addressed the National Press Club, as you're aware he made an extraordinary comment. He said that you are, you have imperilled the national security of Australia. I want to ask your response on that. And secondly, Malcolm Turnbull is also and nuclear experts have said that we do need the nuclear industry to run in tandem with the delivery of nuclear subs here, if anything, to help maintenance and help maintenance on those things. Do you agree on that front.
Prime Minister: Not in the way that it's been in the past, no, I don't. And that's not advice I have from our Defence Force, our defence officials and and the engagement we've had with both the United States and the United Kingdom. I mean, we may be speaking about different things here and there's terms that are thrown about here. But the idea that Australia has to have a civil nuclear energy industry is not a requirement for us to go through the submarine programme. Of course, we'll be drawing, as I said, on the day of my announcement of this important strategic initiative by our government, that we will be drawing on the great experience of ANSTO and Australia's existing scientific capabilities in the nuclear field, which is exactly why I've appointed Melissa Price into the role of Minister for Science and Technology to aid that process. So we perhaps might be speaking at cross purposes. But my policy has always been to show great respect to my predecessors, thank them for their great service to our country.
Journalist: New South Wales are very much going to be leading this international return to international travel, how difficult timing wise is it to then have the Premier also quit the parliament and have force a byelection?
Prime Minister: Well, I can't speak to those matters because I'm not aware of the circumstances or even what the Premier has said. So I'm at a disadvantage to be able to respond to that question. But what I would say is this. Everything I have done with the New South Wales Government, I have done certainly with the Premier, but my ministers and I have done it with the New South Wales government, with the Treasurer, with the many ministers, many of whom sit around her crisis cabinet, with the Minister for Health, with the Minister for Economic Development. So we have been working closely together as governments, and I would expect nothing other than an absolute continuity of the pace and the leadership that we've seen from New South Wales.
Journalist: [inaudible] a very broad vaccine mandate with a long list of workers that will need to get vaccinated to go back to work. Are you disappointed that there hasn't been uniformity achieved in the public health orders around the country? And are you worried that this constitutes a vaccine, compulsory vaccines by stealth? As you previously described it?
Prime Minister: Our policy, the Australian Government's policy has been only to have mandates in in exceptional circumstances. And that remains our policy. The only policy agreed through the national cabinet process for national level implementation was the vaccination of aged care workers. And the principle that sits behind that is we were seeking to ensure high rates of vaccination with those who are engaging with vulnerable communities. And that's an important policy principle. And I think there's a lot of merit in where people are engaging with very vulnerable elements of the community, I know in the Northern Territory, for example. And we've used similar powers there where there's engagement with quite sensitive indigenous communities. There have been some some exceptional arrangements put in place in those circumstances. But my policy has always been that this is not a compulsory vaccination programme. And I think the way that Australians have responded and the fact that we have gone up 20 points to 55 per cent, we are now ahead of the United States on first dose vaccinations, that similarly across the G7 average and across Europe, we will be exceeding their positions within a matter of weeks. That demonstrates that the race we're running is running hard to the end and it's getting the results. You know, we had our challenges many months ago. I took responsibility for those challenges and those problems and I said I take responsibility for fixing it and I have. And that's why you are seeing the vaccination rates that you are seeing now, which is what we had originally hoped to see by the time we have reached October of that order. And we will continue to see that rise. So I know Australians know what's good for them. I know Australians want Australia to open up. And I think the best way to encourage those vaccinations is to stick to the national plan, stick to the deal. Australians will keep their side of the bargain. We need to keep ours.
Journalist: How long until people can come back to Australia from overseas and not have to quarantine at all. What would you need to see to enable that to happen?
Prime Minister: Well, it's a very good question. But you take this step by step. The next step is that there'll be no caps on vaccinated Australians coming back at all. And I think that will be very welcome in places like India and the United Kingdom, United States and up in South East Asia. And they'll be coming back in the first instance for a seven day quarantine. And we'll see how that goes. And I think there'll be opportunity to reduce that. And I think next year we'll be in a very different place again. So we'll take it step by step. Australia has always, through this pandemic, sought to do things that a patient and safe way. And we've been criticised for that by some in other parts of the world. But I can point to 30,000 Australians who can agree with our policy today because they're alive. And I have no regrets on that front, none whatsoever. But we also need to know when you need to move forward. And that's what I'm saying today in the national plan will take us forward when we hit those 80 per cent marks. And I think you'll see the quarantine arrangements change over time and become less onerous as we live with the virus. So we'll take those steps carefully, but we must take them. I mean, for example, when it comes to the isolation of people who may be contacts currently who are vaccinated, we're already seeing states move away from that. That's a good move. It's a sensible move, actually. It's just logical that you would do that. And I think that will assist us in managing the pandemic going forward. I've got time for one more.
Journalist: You mentioned the differing rates of vaccination around the nation. Queensland, WA are behind the rest of the country, have they become complacent, given the relative COVID free environment they've been living in? And are they at risk of holding back the rest of the country in terms of reaching to this next goal?
Prime Minister: Well, what I'm saying is, no, they won't. I'm not going to hold back New South Wales and Victoria and the ACT from what they've achieved to go and access the things that they should be able to achieve once you hit 80 per cent. I want them to realise that. That's why I'm going to keep my part of the deal with Australians on this. I'm going to honour that deal, and work and do everything I can to work with those states which have lower rates of vaccination, which, let's be honest, is also a function of the low rates of COVID in those states. So I'm not being critical about that. They've had a different set of challenges to overcome in those states and territories. Tasmania is a bit of a standout on that front, which I referred to before. But that said, we've just got to work together to get people vaxxed. That's just what we have to do. I don't think there's a need for criticism, only support and encouragement and doing what we can to assist them. I think that's. I left out the Courier-Mail, I can’t do that.
Journalist: Prime Minister, thanks very much. With Australia moving forward, a seven day quarantine when international travel is back, is that going to leave facilities, purpose built quarantine facilities like Wellcamp and Pinkenba as white elephants? How often are they going to be needed?
Prime Minister: Can I tell you what is principally driven, principally driven my decision on those issues? It goes back to the night when the flight was coming from Wuhan and there were not, and there has never been scaled facilities to deal with where a flight like that might go. In the future we could be faced with these circumstances any given day. And I think it's important for us to have those facilities. So my decision was based on the long term need, not the short term requirement, because we're going to home quarantine, you know, hotel quarantine, it's got a used by date on it, 14 day quarantine, it's got a used by date on it. That will recede, it will go away and we'll move into a new phase. But the need to have some specific specialist facilities like we put in place up in the Northern Territory and have these other facilities on an ongoing basis, I think that meets a strategic need for the medium to long term. And so, you know, those projects will continue. But I would flag that the idea that they were somehow going to replace hotel quarantine, in fact, it was the reverse. It was our very clear instruction in the guidelines about this, that it wasn't replacement capacity, it was additional capacity. And it has a longer term, in my view and my government's view, purpose. And that's why it is of of importance. Thank you all very much.
Virtual Remarks to the United Nations General Assembly
24 September 2021
Mr President,
It is a pleasure to give Australia’s National Statement to the General Assembly.
Here in Canberra, I’m on the ancient land of the Ngunnawal people — one of Australia’s many Indigenous peoples who have cared for this continent for 60,000 years.
Our First Peoples remind us that caring for country — and for each other — is the essence of our shared humanity.
The past year has been one of extraordinary adversity, as the world has struggled and dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic — and it continues to rage.
Yet it has also borne witness to humanity’s remarkable resilience and creative ability to overcome problems; to deliver solutions.
Each generation navigates its own destiny amidst anxiety and hope.
Ours is no different.
Today, I would like to speak about three of the most pressing global challenges that together we face.
Challenges that shape our times.
Mr President,
COVID-19 has tested the world like nothing in our lifetime.
We mourn the millions lost.
And millions more who have suffered such terrible illness.
After so much heartache and so much sorrow, there is hope now and a way forward.
The development of a safe and effective vaccine — vaccines, so many of them — has been one of the greatest achievements of modern times.
Our collective task though now is to roll that out — a global vaccine rollout, the largest in world history.
Here in Australia, more than 70 per cent of our adult population has had the first dose of the vaccine, and more than half will have had two doses.
We know vaccinations work.
They lower the risk of transmission.
They significantly lower the risk of hospitalisation, severe illness and death.
And high vaccination rates are the pathway to taking back so much of what we have lost, and to living with this virus — confidently, safely, securely and prosperously.
Vaccinations are the key to keeping our neighbours safe also.
Australia has been helping countries across our region battle this pandemic — with personal protective equipment, testing equipment, medical personnel.
And now we’re doing everything we can to help them with access to safe and effective vaccines.
None of us are safe unless all of us are safe.
So this is the most urgent priority for Indo-Pacific nations.
Already, we’ve delivered more than three million doses to countries across our region — and millions more doses are on their way.
We’ve also contributed $130 million to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, which has delivered over 51 million doses to Southeast Asia and 1.7 million doses to our Pacific family and Timor-Leste.
And we’re investing more than $620 million to procure millions of vaccine doses, and providing technical advice, training of health workers, and cold chain support to our friends and our neighbours.
Now this includes a $100 million contribution to the Quad Vaccine Partnership with our good friends the United States, India and Japan.
This will support a boost in production by at least one billion doses by the end of 2022, and provide access to vaccines and delivery support to countries across the Indo-Pacific.
This is the right thing to do.
It will help slow the spread of the virus — and, we hope, prevent variants emerging.
As well, we must prevent future pandemics and Australia supports the calls for a stronger, more independent World Health Organization, with enhanced surveillance and pandemic response powers.
This should be the duty of every single member of the World Health Organization to share that ambition for a World Health Organization that can seek to protect us all in these circumstances.
And we also need to accelerate efforts to identify how COVID-19 first emerged.
Australia called for an independent review, and sees understanding the cause of this pandemic, not as a political issue, but as being essential, simply, to prevent the next one.
We need to know so we can prevent this death and this calamity being visited upon the world again.
That can be our only motivation.
Mr President,
COVID-19 has underscored the vital importance of international cooperation and coordination.
The patterns of cooperation that have sustained our prosperity and security for decades — they’re under increasing strain.
And so are the institutions that have helped maintain that rules-based international order for over seven decades now.
The global strategic environment has rapidly changed, indeed deteriorated in many respects, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region where we live here in Australia.
The changes we face are many …
… whether it’s tensions over territorial claims …
… rapid military modernisation …
… foreign interference …
… cyber threats …
… disinformation …
… and indeed, economic coercion.
Meeting these challenges requires cooperation and a common purpose among like-minded nations, and all who share that purpose of peace, stability and security — to enhance these as the outcomes that benefit all peoples from wherever they come and whatever their perspectives.
Australia’s interests are inextricably linked to an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific.
A region where the rights of all states — no matter how large or how small — are protected.
This is what we believe.
Australia continues to work constructively on this goal — with agency and purpose and commitment, passionately building a network of partnerships and relationships that support these goals, contributing too.
With our Pacific family — through the Pacific Islands Forum.
With our ASEAN friends — very much at the heart of our own Indo-Pacific vision.
Through the Quad, with a practical agenda for peace, contribution and security in our region.
With our many bilateral strategic partners — comprehensive strategic partners.
And with our longstanding friends and allies — the United States and the United Kingdom.
Strengthened of course further last week with the announcement of our new Enhanced Trilateral Security partnership — AUKUS.
Designed to further the cause of peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region for the benefit of all who live within that region.
It is essential that countries pursue these interests in ways that are mutually respectful and support stability and security.
Because we want to maintain an open, rules-based international system that supports peace, prosperity, human dignity and the aspirations of all sovereign nations.
A global order where sovereign nations can flourish, free from coercion, because of collaborative and purposeful action.
That enables them to correspond and engage in a fellowship, that is supported by a rules-based order.
Rules that have underpinned regional peace and prosperity, such as through the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which we affirm as Australians and which we will always honour.
We must reinforce a sustainable rules-based order …
… while ensuring it is also adaptable to the great power realities of our time.
The United Nations must continue to reinforce the international rules-based order, and preserve the institutions that uphold that order and ensure they’re effective, as the mechanisms, the dialogue and adjudication that buttress and hold together this all-important order.
Australia also values the rules and institutions that foster international trade …
… which creates wealth and brings nations together …
… and is vital to our recovery from the economic costs of this pandemic.
Finally Mr President,
Australia is determined to play our part in meeting the global challenge of climate change, as the world makes the transition to a net-zero global energy economy — a new energy economy.
Australia has a proven track record when it comes to setting, achieving and exceeding our commitments to responsibly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We exceeded our Kyoto commitments.
Our emissions in the year to March 2021 were 21 per cent below 2005 levels.
That is a strong record of achievement.
And it’s been achieved by Australians right across our community — our businesses, individual households, small businesses, our institutions, our governments.
In Australia, we already have the world’s highest uptake of rooftop solar. And we’re deploying renewable energy at nearly eight times the global per capita average.
We are well on the way to exceed our 2030 Paris commitment of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels.
We will meet it and we will beat it — and we’ll beat it strongly.
And we are committed to achieving net zero emissions.
My Government, the Australian Government, will release our Long Term Emissions Reduction Strategy ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow at COP26.
We know the world is transitioning to a new energy economy.
It’s no longer about if — or even when for that matter.
It’s about how.
How we achieve the reduction in global emissions — in our own emissions, in individual nations’ emissions — while still lifting living standards across all nations.
And the answer, as history has shown us time and time again, it’s technology — practical, scalable and commercially viable technologies.
That’s why we’re investing around $20 billion to commercialise promising new technologies like clean hydrogen, green steel, long duration energy storage and carbon capture — vital to meeting the global task to achieve net zero emissions.
And we want to work with everyone, other countries, to commercialise these technologies, and ensure they’re scalable and accessible, as soon as possible.
This is critical for the good of developing countries, who we all know face the steepest challenge in reducing their emissions.
Developing countries need job-creating investment in the same productive, commercial technologies, energy technologies, available to advanced economies, like Australia.
Australia is a reliable partner during this time of transition.
We know that if we can support developing economies to embrace and use the technologies that achieve net zero emissions, and see their economies grow and increase their jobs, that is not only wonderful for those economies and their peoples, but it also is good for Australia.
We know that their success will also be our success.
And so we are blessed here in this country with natural resources, including transition fuels, and the resources needed for the new energy economy.
And we will apply them.
We will apply them in our region as we continue to work with our Southeast Asian partners and to assist them make their energy transitions successfully through finance, through trade and capability building.
We have one global atmosphere — and it’s in our shared interests to work with each other in this way.
That’s why we’re helping other countries reduce their emissions and build resilience to climate change, too.
It’s why we’ve set aside $1.5 billion in practical climate finance globally — and it will have a particular focus on our Pacific family, dealing directly.
We’re up for this global challenge.
We’re up for achieving net zero emissions — a challenge that we know will be met in partnership.
And that unless we all get there — well, we will not achieve our goal.
Mr President,
Australia has always sought to make a positive contribution to meeting global challenges.
Our voice is clear, it’s direct, it’s respectful, it’s constructive.
It reflects our confidence in who we are and what we stand for.
We are a proud, liberal democracy.
We believe in a world order that favours freedom — an order that was established through the fine institution of the United Nations that we gather around through these contributions and that supports the dignity and free expression of all people.
We believe in human rights, in gender equality and the rule of law — and we back that up with how we pursue these things in our own country, in our own society, and how we raise our own children.
Australia was one of eight countries only, involved in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
And we continue to strengthen the international human rights system.
And we will continue to raise our voice on important issues like the rights of women and girls, the rights of Indigenous peoples, the global abolition of the death penalty.
Because respecting the rights and freedoms of the individual is intrinsically important — it is fundamental to our values as a people and as a nation.
It lifts all societies and nations, too — delivering better outcomes through economic inclusion, women’s empowerment, environmental sustainability, rising living standards, and so much more.
Australia’s actions are guided by our belief in the inherent dignity of all people.
Everywhere, no matter the circumstances.
Mr President,
We learned through the pandemic that every moment of challenge requires us to think anew, to engage with each other, to learn as you go.
It is an experience understood by many others.
And so we will continue to meet this moment, with dialogue, with partnership.
Thank you, Mr President.
Remarks, Quad Meeting with the Vice President - Washington DC, USA
24 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Madam Vice President. It's great to be here with you and my good friend Yoshi Suga, and we thank him for his great participation as the leader of his fine country over this past year and we'll miss him very, very much.
Madam Vice President, you have a unique perspective on the Indo-Pacific because you're a West Coaster. And you look across the Pacific and we look back. And so we welcome that perspective, especially at the highest levels of the Biden Administration, and as we discussed on that day.
Particularly on COVID, looking forward to discussing how the pandemic becomes over time, particularly as vaccines roll throughout countries, it increasingly become a pandemic of the disadvantaged and how we are addressing those issues together, be those in areas of low socio-economic opportunity. In particular, multicultural communities, in Australia is one of the, if not the most multicultural country on Earth. And we'll face those challenges. But whether it's the cyber security issues, the defence and security issues, of course, the AUKUS partnership that we only announced last week, and was so warmly received by my good friend Yoshi. It's good to be here today in Washington, bringing a close to a week of reaffirming all of our strong alliances and particularly the 70th year of our ANZUS alliance as well.
Remarks, Quad Leaders Meeting - Washington DC, USA
24 September 2021
Prime Minister: Thank you very much Prime Minister, thank you Mr President. It is a great honour to be here with you, here in this magnificent place, and I thank you for your leadership in bringing us together - in person this time - and to join our great friends, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Suga, and Secretary Blinken, it’s good to be here with you also.
We are liberal democracies and believe in a world order that favours freedom and we believe in a free and open Indo-Pacific because we know that’s what delivers a strong, stable and prosperous region so our citizens, our people, can realise their hopes and dreams for their futures in a liberal, free society.
The Quad is about demonstrating how democracies such as ours - as you said Mr President - can get things done, they can deal with the big challenges that we face in the very complex and changing world.
And there is no part of the world that is more dynamic than the Indo-Pacific at this time.
A region that has extraordinary opportunity, wide diversity, great wealth, but many challenges that must be overcome.
And we see the role of our nations, we see our home in the Indo-Pacific as the place that we wish to focus on to ensure that our peoples can realise everything they would have for themselves.
So, as we gather here together again, as a Quad, in person for the first time in just six months from our last meeting so much has already been accomplished and we come together with great hope for what’s ahead.
670 million - at least - safe and effective doses of vaccines already out there, a billion is our goal, Mr President, and we will add more to that today.
Using our national strengths collectively to manufacture and distribute these vaccines, to have the doses but also to ensure they go that last mile, to ensure they are administered in all parts of the region.
Working together on low emissions technologies that will indeed change the world and take the world to a net-zero economy, a new energy economy.
We are working to make cyberspace and emerging and critical technologies trusted and secure, in open societies, solving problems, and addressing the supply chain challenges that in many ways hold the keys to our security and our prosperity and our environment in the 21st century.
So, we stand here, together, in the Indo-Pacific region, a region that we wish to be always be free from coercion, where the sovereign rights of all nations are respected and where disputes are settled peacefully and [in]accordance with international law.
We come together in collective strength, with mutual respect, transparently and importantly as one.
So, thank you again Mr President for joining us together as Quad Leaders at this meeting, on behalf of the Australian people can I thank all of the leaders of the Quad who share this great forum for their leadership in our region.
I am in no doubt that together our coordinations multiply many times over the forces of hope for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. And with that I’m delighted to hand over to my dear friend the Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister Suga.
Statement with Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi - Washington DC, USA
22 September 2021
SPEAKER PELOSI: Good morning everyone. As House Speaker it is my official honour and personal privilege to welcome Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia to the United States Capitol. Mr Prime Minister, it is a privilege to meet with you today, for the first time, but at a time as this month our nations celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Australia New Zealand United States Security Treaty, and now, as we look to the future, the United States remains committed to continuing strengthening our security partnership. And we will hear more from you about the Australia, UK, US trilateral agreement, pretty exciting. I look forward to discussing [with] all of our members. We have a bipartisan meeting after we leave here to discuss how we can work together on critical priorities. Of course, climate change – and thank you for your leadership in that regard – the COVID crisis, which is still with us – and we can learn from each other about that – tackling again so many things in terms of cooperation on security, but also strengthening our relationship with regard to trade and commerce. So, with a lot to discuss it’s a perfect time for us to receive you here and we look forward to that discussion, Mr Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Madam Speaker. It is a great privilege to be meeting with you today and to be here at Capitol Hill. There are few places around the world that echo democracy and freedom like Capitol Hill. And the relationship that we have between Australia and the United States is a broad and it is a deep one. It is one that stretches across all the arms of government. And the ANZUS Treaty, which we mark the anniversary of, the 70th anniversary, is an agreement not just with the executive government of course, but with the Parliament, with the Congress, the Senate, and we understand that relationship is absolutely critical to the success of our partnership between Australia and the United States. And now, as we go into a new period of the relationship under AUKUS, on the way up, as we were walking up the stairs, I saw the statue of Winston Churchill, and talking about freedom and his passion for freedom, and between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, that is something we share a great passion for – a world order that favours freedom. And that’s what our partnership has always been about. And so I am looking forward to having the discussions about how we’re going to progress that new era of our partnership. And the House, of course, the Congress and the Senate, will play a key role in ensuring that the responsibilities that we are seeking to take on, of which your [inaudible] is a steward, and we are seeking to be a steward, and so I am keen to be able to provide those assurances today, as we work together to implement this very fine partnership between the greatest of friends, the securest of relationships, and we will continue to work together in the cause of democracy and freedom.
SPEAKER PELOSI: Thank you, Mr Prime Minister.
Press Conference - Washington DC, USA
21 September 2021
Prime Minister: Before I come to the very significant events of today, last night when we last spoke, we were being updated, I was being updated, on the situation of the earthquake in Victoria. Pleased that overnight, as further information has come in, those events have ended up being less serious than first thoughts. We welcome that. But, of course, it was an earthquake. That's a serious thing. And I want to thank all of those last night in Australia who were working this response and the coordination between federal and state government. Obviously, we need to remain cautious because of the threat of aftershocks and wish those well who are going through and inspecting and shoring up those properties that were affected and any damage that was there for that. It is pleasing to know that what was first feared was not realised, particularly in relation to any reports of serious injury. And that is very welcome news.
Today, Australia received overwhelming support for our AUKUS partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom. We received overwhelming support when it came to Australia moving ahead to establish a new submarine fleet for Australia, to ensure that we can contribute to the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific. There is great enthusiasm for us going ahead with these projects, whether it is from the Secretary of Defence, the bipartisan support that was on display today up on Capitol Hill, both at House and Senate. In the Congress, there is an overwhelming sentiment towards Australia. This has been built on a 70 year alliance and more than 100 years of standing together, the respect that the members of Congress feel for the service of our men and women in our defence forces, the way that Australia has applied itself to this partnership, as I say, looking to the United States, but never leaving it to the United States. That is a position that is understood in the United States and is one that is respected. And that has laid the platform of trust that has enabled us to establish this this new level of our partnership. And so I look forward with great confidence based on the extensive discussions I've had today at all, at all levels and across the partisan divide here in this town in Washington. And that will enable us, I think, to move forward in this next phase.
It was also pleasing to have discussions across the broader array of defence and intelligence issues as we met with those with both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The support on the Hill, of course, in the US system of government will be absolutely necessary as we progress this important partnership. It's great to have the strong support of the President, the executive of government, and today it's very clear that Congress and the Senate will be backing this in. There's a lot more work to do. But that work will be done in a spirit of cooperation, in the spirit of endorsement. So a very, I think, successful day for Australia, an important day for Australia, but one where Australia's ability to contribute to this partnership, and so not only are our own interests served in that endeavour, but also the United States can see the great value at all levels of what we're seeking to achieve here and they're getting ready to work with us.
Journalist: Prime Minister, around the time you went to the Pentagon, Joe Biden, the President, was able to make a 30 minute phone call to Emmanuel Macron, one result of which is going to be the return of France's Ambassador to Washington by the end of next week. What is your interpretation of the consequences that flow from that conversation for Australia and the resumption of diplomatic normality in Canberra?
Prime Minister: I welcome the fact that they've had that discussion and that was discussed between President Biden and I yesterday. So I'm glad that call took place, I'm glad that he was able to reinforce not just from the United States perspective, but from all partners in this new arrangement that we very much want to see, not only France, but all the nations, Europe, our like-minded nations in Europe, playing a very important role in the Indo-Pacific. That's what it means for Australia. And I think it's been very important for the President to have that engagement. I look forward and when the time is right and when the opportunity presents that we will have a similar discussion. The issues that we're dealing with are different. Of course, Australia decided not to proceed with a very significant defence contract. And understandably, we know that France is disappointed about that. I think those issues will take further time to work through than the ones that were being dealt with between the United States and France.
Journalist: Are you confident there won't be any congressional roadblocks then, given what you said about the AUKUS partnership and your conversations today. And, Dan Tehan said yesterday in Canberra that states that follow the national plan should be able to travel by December at the latest. Would that include international travel? And did you discuss that with Boris Johnson last night?
Prime Minister: On the first matter, based on the overwhelming bipartisan support that we saw today right across the leadership in both the Congress, in the House and the Senate, I can only go forward with confidence. But, of course, there are many issues still to work through. We all understand that. But we go forward from a position of great trust and great enthusiasm. The United States, amongst the parliamentarians that we met today, truly understand what the challenges are that Australia faces. As I said yesterday, President Biden gets in, the Congress gets in, the Senate gets it. And that is a great encouragement to Australia. They understand the challenges we've been facing. And they only wanted to give us messages of support, respect and encouragement. It was a very proud day to be Australian.
Journalist: On the second issue, Prime Minister?
Prime Minister: Well, you only ever have lively discussions with Boris Johnson, and that was tremendous to spend time together last night. At 80 per cent vaccination rates, the national plan provides for people to travel again. And that's certainly what we intend to facilitate and for vaccinated people to travel. We're not looking for any special arrangements. If you're vaccinated, then we are hoping to have in place, we're expecting to be welcoming back students, we're expecting to be welcoming back skilled migrants, expecting to be welcoming back when they're vaccinated, people into the country on that basis. Particularly, the Premier of New South Wales and I have already been working through those issues because they're likely to be the first state that goes into that opportunity. So I look forward to that. I think Australians look forward to that. That's the point of being in a position now, this week, we will hit three quarters of Australians aged over 16 first dose, and we will hit one in two having received their second dose. And those vaccination numbers will continue to rise. And as they rise, the opportunities to get back to life as normal as it can be living with the virus, will just be coming closer each and every day.
Journalist: Just to clarify that answer, Prime Minister, does that mean that the English cricketers and the Barmy Army will be able to come in for the Ashes in December? And you've said a couple of times now that when the opportunity presents itself, you will speak with Emmanuel Macron. But have you reached out, have you offered to, to have you tried to call him and speak to him now? And is he just not taking your call?
Prime Minister: Yes, we have. And the opportunity for that call is not yet. But we'll be patient. We understand their disappointment and that is the way you manage difficult issues. It's a difficult decision. It was a very difficult decision. And of course, we had to weigh up what would be the obvious disappointment to France. But at the end of the day, as a government, we have to do what is right for Australia's national security interests. And I will always choose Australia's national security interests.
On the other matter, I would love to see the Ashes go ahead, as I shared with Boris last night. But there's no special deals there, because what we're looking to have is vaccinated people being able to travel, now how more broadly, visitors coming to Australia will be able to travel, that's an issue we'll have to look at carefully. But in terms of what those, I don't see a great deal of difference in skilled workers or students who will be able to come to Australia when you reach those vaccination rates, those who are coming for that purpose when it comes to their profession, which is playing cricket, I don't see the difference between that and someone who's coming as a skilled, qualified engineer or someone who's coming to be ready for study. That's the opportunity that we get when we get to those higher rates of vaccination. And that's the pathway that we spoke of. Now, how many states are at that position will obviously determine where people can go.
Journalist: Prime Minister Boris Johnson said to the French President "donnez-moi un break". What is your message to the President, do you agree with Boris Johnson?
Prime Minister: Well, I don't speak French. That wasn't one of my strong suits when I was at the school or even at university. But Boris has a way of expressing things that only Boris can. But, look my message is this, we value our relationship with France. We have still around $6 billion worth of defence contracts with French companies. We have $32 billion worth of defence contracts with European countries. And we see Europe and France working with like-minded partners like Australia in the region to ensure a more stable and secure Indo-Pacific. So our door is wide open. Our invitation is there. We understand the hurt and disappointment and we'll be patient and we look forward to working with our friends again.
Journalist: Just following Annelise’s question, Prime Minister, the White House put out a statement today saying that the two leaders - that's Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden - agreed the situation would have benefited from open consultation among allies. How can that not be read as anything but a direct repudiation of your brand of diplomacy?
Prime Minister: Well, they were dealing with different issues to Australia. The United States and France are NATO countries. And there are certain expectations amongst NATO partners about how they're engaged with each other on national security issues. Australia is not a member of NATO. The dialogue between the United States President and the French President was a function of their relationship. We had communicated, as I've said on many occasions, that we believe that a conventional submarine was not going to meet our requirements. We discussed that issue with the French over several months, and I was very clear that we would be making a decision based on Australia's national security interests. We made that decision. I understand that they're disappointed. We've acted in accordance with what we were able to do under the contract and will honour the obligations that flow from those decisions in the contract. And we will seek to continue to engage with. The issues that the US President was addressing are very different because it's a different relationship and has different obligations. We've been meeting our obligations under the relationship, but we decided not to go forward with the contract. So, of course, they're going to be disappointed. I'm not sure how people thought they wouldn't be disappointed or that there was any other way that such news could be made more attractive, of course it wasn't attractive news. Of course, it would lead to disappointment.
Journalist: Prime Minister, the President essentially apologised for a lack of transparency. You said you communicated with the French, but they clearly still feel very angry, angry and blindsided. Are you willing to apologise to Macron now or when you get to speak to them, will you say sorry to him for what's happened?
Prime Minister: I acted in accordance with Australia's national security interests ...
Journalist: So you won't apologise for that?
Prime Minister: ... and that is something Australia should always do, and I think all Australians would expect me to do. Hard decisions have to be made by prime ministers about our interests. And so, of course, that is something that was necessary for me to do. I don't share your interpretation of what the US President has said, the US President has said. I don't think it's fair for you to paraphrase him or put words in his mouth.
Journalist: Prime Minister, are you disappointed that all this diplomatic drama around AUKUS so far has taken away from your messages around climate change, cyber security, COVID and all those sorts of things?
Prime Minister: No, not at all. What I've encountered here in Washington, as I did in New York, was excitement, support for this extraordinary new level of partnership that we've been able to bring together between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. And today, it was a great opportunity to talk about the other issues that you've raised with many of our partners here in the Congress and the Senate, and to advise and for them to pleasantly receive the news, I mean the progress that Australia is making with a 20 per cent reduction in our emissions, which I was able to say is above what has been achieved by the United States, Canada, New Zealand and a range of other countries. Our commitments are always backed up by plans. And I said that's an important thing about Australia. In Australia, if you make a commitment, you've got to have a plan of how you are going to achieve it. And that's what I will always do.
Journalist: Prime Minister, you've been very enthusiastic today about the reception you received in the US, about the passage of the potential legislation through the Senate and the Congress. Overnight, Senator Wong has raised some issues about Labor's concerns in Australia about the deal. How confident are you that you will be able to take Labor into your confidence and get the passage of required legislation through the Australian Parliament?
Prime Minister: Well, I think Australians would be puzzled as to why there can be bipartisan support for this initiative in the United States and within days, within days, the Labor Party seems to be having an each way bet. I don't have each way bets on national security. If the Labor Party wants to have an each way bet on national security, the Australian people need to know that. The leader of the Labor Party set out three conditions of their support, all of them are met. All of them are met. So it really is a question for the Labor Party. It's important that this had bipartisan support. That was certainly the message that was delivered by the leader of the Labor Party. Of course, these matters will be worked through in the normal way, but the conditions that he set out are overwhelmingly met and will be met.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Nancy Pelosi today praised your leadership on China. What exactly does she mean by that? And how do you think that's been read by Beijing?
Prime Minister: Well, I can't speak to how others read things, all I can speak to is that Australia's record of standing up for our values and staying true to what we believe in, ensuring that we are a resilient country that values our sovereignty and works with our partners, stands up for freedom across the Indo-Pacific, these are values and goals that the United States shares. So here, as I found in many roles, there is an easy agreement between friends on these issues.
Journalist: The Shrine of Remembrance yesterday in Melbourne, Prime Minister, there were scenes there that are very disturbing. What's your response to those?
Prime Minister: I think those scenes were disgraceful and the conduct was disgraceful. I think the RSL President put it best, this is a sacred place, not a place of protest. It was disrespectful and it dishonoured those Australians who had made the ultimate sacrifice. And I would hope any and all who were engaged in that disgraceful behaviour would be ashamed.
Journalist: Did you have a response to Paul Keating's comments about AUKUS?
Prime Minister: No.
Journalist: Did you have any discussion with the Secretary of Defence about what the increased military capability will be in Australia?
Prime Minister: Sorry, I missed that?
Journalist: At your meeting at the Pentagon with the Defence Secretary, was there any discussion about what that increased military capability of the US will be in Australia, including marine numbers, or are they asking for anything like a missile launch program for Australia?
Prime Minister: What today was a good opportunity for us to to lay out these early priorities of getting on with AUKUS. And that, of course, goes to the the arrangements being put in place to progress this 12-18 month program of working through on the nuclear submarines. But, there was also the opportunity to identify other important early priority areas, particularly in the area of cyber, AI, quantum, the electronic capabilities that are so necessary in this day and age, these are the things we had a very good discussion on today. I understand, I deeply share the interest and enthusiasm of the nuclear submarine program, it is obviously the centrepiece as the first initiative of the AUKUS arrangement. But the AUKUS arrangement is far more than the nuclear submarines. The AUKUS arrangement means, as we said many times today, that before such technologies are even imagined, we will already be working together on these. Which means Australia works with our partners to develop these technologies up, that means that you are able to understand them and ensure that we can integrate them into what we are doing in the earliest possible opportunity. There is a very encouraging understanding amongst all those I met today about the significance of what this new partnership means. This is something that so many people who work here, up there on Capitol Hill, the friends of Australia, who we met with today. These are the sorts of things they have come together to hope for and now they see them realised. And that was very rewarding to be there and see that. And I think it's very exciting about where this goes forward.
Journalist: Prime Minister, the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said today she conceded that the US perhaps should have consulted with the French before the announcement of AUKUS. Do you feel like we should have consulted with the French before that announcement took place?
Prime Minister: Well, as I said, I'd already been engaged with the French going back to the middle of June, making it very clear that Australia had very big concerns about the capability of the conventional submarine and its ability to meet the strategic environment that Australia would have to operate in. I made that very clear. Both in discussions and in correspondence with the President. The President sent out Admiral Morio to meet with our teams to discuss these issues. So there'd been three months of discussion around that particular issue.
Now, I respect the fact that the Naval Group, the French Government, while they shared our view about the changing strategic environment, they naturally were of the view that they thought the capabilities they were providing could meet that. We didn't share that view and we don't share that view. And that view was not shared by our partners. Now, as I said before, the United States is a NATO partner, it has a different relationship to Australia. We had a contractual arrangement with Naval and we had been working through those earlier contractual issues where there'd been some real difficulties. So we'd had an ongoing dialogue with the French Government on many issues, including the one that determined fundamentally our decision not to proceed through that second gate of the contract. And so we will now pursue the issues that are necessary to pursue following on from that decision based on what the contract provided for. And it's been good to assure people that, of course, Australia will do that. And that's the process we're now in. I look forward to engaging again with President Macron, I know there will be some time before that occurs, but we will patiently pursue those opportunities because we want to work together. There is so much more we're doing. And the bigger picture here, I think, ultimately requires us to come together and focus on those issues. And I'm sure they will. I commend the President on his engagement, that just builds the road map for the rest of us. Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - New York, USA
21 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone, and good morning in Australia, and I'm very pleased to be joined by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Marise Payne and the Minister for Defence, Peter Dutton.
This has been a very important time for the three of us to be here, in New York in particular, as the world is gathering. The world is changing dramatically, particularly in our own region, in the Indo-Pacific and now more than ever, it's very important that we're engaging with our like minded friends and partners all around the world. It's been a great opportunity today to meet with many of those, of course, meeting with President Biden as part of our bilateral here. And I'll be joining him again when I go to Washington and, of course, have the Quad meetings later in the week. In addition, the opportunity to meet with so many of our European partners, whether they be from NATO, the European Union, Sweden, and Austria, these have been important meetings and a good opportunity for us to be talking about the many issues that we share in common.
Today's meeting with President Biden was incredibly, we were able to reinforce the partnership that we were able to announce last week together, but more importantly, to affirm the ANZUS alliance that this month we marked 70 years of us working together in that way and indeed more than a century of us standing together in so many challenging times. And they're challenging times that we're facing now. In the partnerships, alliances that we have, many countries we work, we share this with, and that is the Indo-Pacific will be a region that will challenge the world and will determine the future of so many all around the world. Together with the United States, we want to ensure that those in Europe and around the world can join us in focusing on addressing those challenges. Today, we had the opportunity, as I said, to affirm our friendship and our alliance and our new partnership. But in addition to that, to address the many other challenges, whether they be the challenges of climate change, the supply chain issues that we need to address together and the economic challenges that we face. This is a partnership that goes beyond just our security interests and one that goes to our like minded views of the world.
With our European partners, it was a good opportunity to be able to answer questions and take them through the important announcements that we've made from Australia's interests over the course of the past week. Australia will always pursue our national sovereign interests. That is my responsibility. That is the responsibility of my colleagues. And in pursuing those interests we must ensure that not only our security interests are addressed, but also our broader economic issues need to be addressed and we need to be playing our part as we indeed are in addressing global climate change as we move towards COP26. So it has been, I think, a very important day. Sharing discussions with those who believe in a world that favours freedom and advancing that through our many partnerships and seeing how we can work even more closely together to deal with what is a very complex and changing world. It's all about keeping Australians safe, it's all about keeping Australia strong in a world that's constantly changing and always keeping Australians together. With that, I'll ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to say a few words and of course the Minister for Defence and then happy to take some questions.
SENATOR THE HON. MARISE PAYNE, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Thanks, Prime Minister, and great to be here with the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister and particularly good to be in Washington and New York in the last week or so, and particularly the opportunity to attend the speech of the President of the United States to the U.N. General Assembly this morning, to meet with the President and his senior team today as well. We want to thank the President and Secretary Blinken, National Security Adviser Sullivan, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, Special Envoy Kerry and others who were part of that meeting.
Today's engagement continue the very significant momentum that has been built out of the AUSMIN consultations last week where we agreed to a number of foreign policy and defence outcomes that were part of the joint statement for AUSMIN itself. As well as a wide range of US officials, we've also, I've also been pleased to meet with friends and counterparts in the last days from the Philippines, from the United Kingdom, from Maldives, from Portugal, EU, Latvia, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Poland, Thailand, India and UN agencies, including in a number of those meetings, the opportunity to discuss gender issues, women, peace and security as well from my portfolio as Minister for Women. More meetings in that context to come tomorrow.
These are all valuable opportunities to canvas Australia's priorities for the Indo-Pacific and in the Indo-Pacific. For freedom, for openness, for stability, security and inclusivity in our region with ASEAN at its heart. We've also, as the Prime Minister said, discussed the AUKUS arrangements, emphasising that it's about Australia's national security and our ongoing contribution to the stability of our region. It is a partnership about sharing technology and capabilities, not a military alliance or a security pact. It's timely to remember, I think, that two years ago this week, Quad foreign ministers met in New York, face to face, for the first time. I'm very proud to know that our Quad leaders will now be meeting in person in Washington this week with a strong focus on the priority issues for the Indo-Pacific, including vaccines and health security, critical technologies and climate. It's a positive, practical diplomatic network which is delivering for our region.
Can I finish, Prime Minister, by saying that overall, this visit that the Defence Minister and I have been undertaking for the last fortnight to Indonesia, to India, to the Republic of Korea, to Washington and New York has been one of the most substantive foreign and defence policy engagements by Australia in recent times. And in the US, the marking of the anniversary of ANZUS, the holding of a substantial AUSMIN, the announcement of AUKUS, has enabled us to secure some of the most significant outcomes for Australia's national interests in the history of our relationship. I want to thank the Defence Minister for his engagement. The work that we have done together has been comprehensive and thank all of those who contributed to the programme across those engagements. Thanks PM.
THE HON. PETER DUTTON MP, MINISTER FOR DEFENCE: Well PM, Marise, thank you very much. I want to personally say thank you to Marise, we have had an extensive engagement over the course of the last couple of weeks. We'll meet later this week with INDOPACOM and talk about the region and to talk about what it is we've announced under AUKUS. The whole design of this programme has been really about keeping Australia safe and secure in an uncertain world. And as the Prime Minister points out, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, we need to provide that leadership stability. And through the deal that we've announced, I think we've delivered on that. I think many of our neighbours understand the gravity of AUKUS, the way in which that will be a positive force for peace and stability in our region. I want to say thank you very much to President Biden for the way in which he received us today in the conversation which followed on from our conversations with the two Secretaries Blinken and Austin, in Washington. A very productive engagement, and yesterday I was able to go to Connecticut to visit the electric boat company, which since last century has had a very esteemed engagement with the US Defence Force and their production of missiles and submarines, et cetera, so that starts the 18 month process of discussion with the United States and United Kingdom. I think it's been very important, it's been a historic trip from our perspective and the momentum is with us now to make sure that we can do whatever we can to keep our region safe and secure into the future. So, I've really appreciated what's been a very productive trip.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what did you say to the President about climate change, you obviously didn't discuss that and was critical minerals and hydrogen discussed during the meeting?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I was able to address was the significant progress Australia has made. 20 per cent reduction in emissions in Australia since 2005, which outstrips many of the countries’ performance today, including here, frankly, in the United States and Canada, New Zealand and so many other countries. Australia has the highest level of rooftop solar anywhere in the world. And our achievements in reducing emissions is an important story for Australia to continue to tell, because it's our record of achievement that actually establishes the integrity of the commitments that we make. That we will meet and beat our 2030 targets, I was able to inform the President today. And that we will continue to work on our plan as to how we can continue to reduce emissions to zero well into the future. As I indicated at the start of this year, it was our intention to do. Because in Australia it's not enough to have a commitment to something. You've got to have a plan to achieve it. And this is an important part of the way we approach this task. You have a plan to meet your commitment. If you don't have a plan, you don't have a commitment. And so we will continue to work through those issues. It was a good opportunity to discuss the important elements of that plan today, in particular technology, the hydrogen projects that we're engaged in, which were announced particularly early this week, and the important role that hydrogen technology as well as CCUS battery technology and others are going to play, not just in advanced economies, but in developing economies as well. We share a passion that developing economies, particularly in our region, in Indo-Pacific, will be able to develop their economies with a clean energy future, that they will be able to realise the jobs that advanced economies have, to develop their industrial base on the new energy technologies. And Australia wants to play a critical role in that. And we want to partner with countries to achieve it. This will be an important topic of discussion on Friday, particularly to the point that you've raised. That will be an important discussion point on Friday as part of the Quad, the critical supply chains, rare earths and critical minerals and how they feed into the many technologies that make up the new energy economy is a big part of Australia's opportunity in the future and has important opportunities for our resources sector. Lithium, yes, of course, but so many other rare earths and minerals that make up the future supply chains. So we see ourselves being a supplier of energy to the region in new energy technologies. And we see ourselves as an important player in providing the rare earths and critical minerals that are essential to the supply chains of the new energy economy.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what messages did you get from European leaders you were meeting today? And what now after those meetings, do you believe the impact of the severing of the subs deal will be on our trade negotiations with Europe?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, firstly, on the issue of trade, to pick that one up first. Apples and pears is, as I described it, which weren't my words, they were words from one of the officials from the Commission and look, we had positive discussions about that. There is an understanding that these are, these are issues that aren't on the same track. We've been working on, particularly trade issues, for many years now. We're not alone in that. Canadians have been doing the same. It's no easy thing to land a trade deal with Europe. And there are many complex issues that Minister Tehan will continue to work through. And obviously they'll be consulting with their members. But I was very pleased with the discussions we had on that topic today, not just with obviously the European Commission and Council, but also the individual member states. Whether it was Estonia, or going through Austria and Sweden and others. So, I welcome those discussions.
The other thing that I take great heart from, in my discussions with European leaders today, and I'm sure Peter and Marise, in particular, she's had even more, is how focused they are on the Indo-Pacific. Two, three years, five years ago, the discussions that are had today about the Indo-Pacific are very different, and I welcome the fact as does the President, as we discussed today, that Europe is so keen to play a more significant role, partnering in the region. And it's been a good opportunity to point out that the new partnership we have with the United States, the United Kingdom, is an opportunity to engage Europe more broadly. This is not about excluding, this is the reverse. This is an opportunity to engage more because we will be able to do more in the region and do more together with other European nations. So I think it was a good opportunity to explain those opportunities that come from the new partnership. As Marise said, it was an opportunity to make it very clear this is not some new alliance or anything of that nature. This is a partnership that builds on long standing partnerships with two of Australia's, if not, well, it is Australia's two longest standing partners and allies, and so the opportunity to explain that today, I think was very important. Of course, there's understandable recognition of the disappointment for France. There was never going to be an easy way to not proceed with this contract. To think there was, I think would be naive. Of course it’s disappointing. But it's a contractual arrangement that we have. We're acting consistent with the contract and we will meet all our obligations in relation to the contract terms of the options we’ve exercised and the opportunity to explain those matters, I think was reassuring that Australia would be doing the right thing in terms of our obligations.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on those financial obligations, have you discussed with the US helping to meet any of those break elements in the contract with the French, so any financial contribution by them in ...?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's not a matter for the United States. I mean, Australia, I want to stress we haven't entered as yet into any contractual supply arrangements [inaudible]. We are now engaged in a 12 to 18 month process to determine those issues. But this is a matter that was initiated by Australia. Let me be very clear about that. This is not a matter that was brought to Australia by the United States or the United Kingdom. This was Australia acting in our national interests to ensure our national security in our region. That is our job, to keep Australians safe. And it's our duty to ensure that if we require a superior capability than one we would otherwise be provided, then we will get on and do that job. And if we didn't do that, well, I think Australians would have the right to be disappointed. But we've avoided that by ensuring that we are able to now proceed on a superior path to a superior capability, that is in no way, as we were able to stress today, to any criticism of the Attack Class Submarine whatsoever. That was never the point. It was a conventional submarine. It could only do so much. And in this strategic environment, that was not enough.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, if I can ask you about climate change for a moment.
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: President Biden said that our two countries are in lockstep. He also said about climate change that we are almost at the point of no return. Given that our countries are, according to him, are in lockstep and he's taking zero emissions by 2050 to COP. What will you be doing or are we not in lockstep? Is he wrong?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I think we are both seeking to get to the same place ...
JOURNALIST: Which is net emissions zero by 2050?
PRIME MINISTER: I think we've always been seeking to get to the same place. We are going to see the most profound transition of the global energy economy that we've seen in a very long time ...
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the specific ...
PRIME MINISTER: And we are going to be making that transition and we're going to be making that with an Australian plan ...
JOURNALIST: By when?
PRIME MINISTER: Following an Australian path to achieve that goal. And we'll be outlining that between now and COP26. And that's why I was able to indicate to the President today, we are working through our own processes about our plan and when we are in a position to make further announcements on that then we will.
JOURNALIST: Officials from the Biden Administration have made it quite clear that they think Australia should have taken a bit more responsibility in dealing with the French before this announcement was made. Have you picked that up while you're here?
PRIME MINISTER: It was another good opportunity to indicate the process that they've been engaged in. We have made it clear for some months that the capability of a conventional submarine, to operate in that environment which we now face, pose serious risks. We were very clear, I was very clear about that issue. Now, clearly where we are, is we both understand that the environment that we're seeking to operate has changed. I don't think there's any dispute about that. There may be a difference of view, well there certainly is obviously, about whether the conventional submarine is going to be able to deal with that. Australia's view was it could not. And therefore, we took the decision that we have every entitlement to take. To protect Australia's interests and advance our national security.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on the submarines, the United Kingdom has indicated that they may station up to three nuclear submarines in Australia. Is that an option? And is there also an option for a similar arrangement with the United States? Are these options that Australia is looking at and may come up in the near future?
PRIME MINISTER: Today, we had the opportunity to get some clear early priorities on what we wanted to achieve under the AUKUS arrangement. And, of course, going through that 18 month process and making sure that we have a right sized option for Australia to be able to pursue the right scale, to mean we can move as quickly as possible and get that capability in place. But in addition to that, a lot of work Minister Dutton has been doing, is to work to see how we can bring other elements to that capability in an even sooner timeframe. Now, that could involve the very things that you're talking about. There are no commitments on that as yet. But being able to bring that capability to our region and to work with that, that provides training opportunities for Australians as well as we seek to build our capability, to be able to support our own nuclear-powered submarine fleet over time. But it wasn't just about that. Issues of AI and cyber and quantum, all of these technologies are critical parts of our national defences, and these will be significant early areas where we will work together, as indeed the announcement made very clear. So there's a lot of work to do. This is about Australia doing more and doing more with others and not just with the United States and the United Kingdom. Our policy, our plan, our strategy is about doing more and more with more partners to ensure a stability that delivers peace and security.
JOURNALIST: PM, can I just ask what assurances did you get today within that US bilateral that all the legislative requirements in Congress that are needed for AUKUS to go ahead, would actually go ahead? Is the President telling you that he's going to push everyone in Congress to agree to all those legislative changes to make AUKUS a reality as opposed to announcement?
PRIME MINISTER: What's important to note, is today the President affirmed again, obviously the support of the announcement we made last week. But as we led up to the AUKUS arrangement and particularly to pursue the option of nuclear powered submarines, then all parties are very conscious of the many issues each of us will have to address. And so we have entered into this arrangement as a partnership with our eyes wide open about what will be necessary.
JOURNALIST: The President felt compelled today, Prime Minister, at the UN to assure the world that America wasn't leading its allies and Australia into a Cold War with China. So obviously, he sees the seriousness of this matter in those terms. Are you confident that that can be avoided without diplomatic contact with Beijing?
PRIME MINISTER: I am confident that we can avoid the conflict that we all want to avoid, and I believe that includes not only Australia and many countries in our region and friends across ASEAN, but I believe that extends to our partners in the Quad, Japan and India, as we'll discuss later this week, as it indeed does to China. I have no doubt that's what we all are seeking to achieve. I am encouraged by the President's efforts in seeking that direct engagement and having that direct and honest engagement with China. We had the opportunity to discuss those issues today. The President has a deep understanding of the Indo-Pacific, a very deep understanding. He's been around this space for a very long time and he knows it intimately. And that is a great reassurance to our partnership, that he understands these issues at this level. And so we are joined in this objective of peace. We are joined in this objective of doing all we can to ensure the stability that we can provide will deliver the peace that is necessary.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the European Union free trade agreement. Do you feel any more confident about the progress of the negotiations following the discussions with the Europeans today, particularly with the Austrian Chancellor?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I particularly welcome the fact that Sebastian and I were able to come to the agreement, which we took about last year, it actually began when we were working together on COVID issues and we had quite a discussion about those also today. The progress of an EU free trade agreement is not a simple one. The timetable for that, I've known for some time, is one that's going to continue to require a great deal of patience. Other countries know that as well and so we will just continue doing the work, and that's what I discussed with European leaders today. There is still a journey ahead of us. That journey is unchanged by the events of last week. And that will be about the issues of trade, because ultimately, I think an improved trading arrangement between us and the European Union is important for parties on both sides. It was a key point to make today by the Estonian President. There is a lot of enthusiasm for a close trading arrangement with Australia, across European leaders, and that has been my experience in dealing with them for some time now. But it is not a simple thing to come to an EU agreement with so many nations involved. And so we will continue to exercise the patience needed to get there. OK. Thank you very much everyone.
Remarks, Bilateral Meeting with President Biden - New York, USA
21 September 2021
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, Scott, Mr. Prime Minister, it’s great to have you here. It’s good to see my friend, Prime Minister Morrison, and — today in New York. And I look forward to welcoming him to the White House on Friday, I guess, when the Quad meets, which will be a good in-person meeting.
The United States has no closer or more reliable ally than Australia. Our nations have stood together for a long, long time. And you can — we can rely on one another, and that’s really a reassuring thing.
We’re grateful that our partnership has accomplished what we’ve accomplished together over 70 years.
And we have a big agenda to discuss today, starting with our partnership to advance our vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
And this — this conversation that we’re going to continue with Japan, India — and India, on Friday, and — in the first in-person Quad leaders meeting is a historic event. And we’re — I think we’re all looking forward to it.
The United States and Australia are working in lockstep on the challenges that I laid out today in my speech to the United Nations: ending COVID, addressing the climate crisis, defending democracy, shaping the rules of the road for the 21st century. Because I meant what I said: We are at an inflection point; things are changing. We either grasp the change and deal with it, or we’re going to be left behind — all of us.
And so, I want to thank you again, Scott, for — it’s great to see you. I look forward to working with you and all your team. And — and the floor is yours.
PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: Well, thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your warm welcome and to the entire delegation.
I think it’s very important we’re meeting here in New York. This month, we mark the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS alliance. There have been 14 Australian prime ministers since Sir Robert Menzies and 14 U.S. presidents that have stewarded this great partnership.
The one time the ANZUS alliance was invoked was when the towers came down here in New York and were attacked. And that invoked the ANZUS alliance for the first and only time.
And so, to both mark that event and remember all of those who were lost on that day, we reflect on, frankly, more than 100 years of our partnership where we have stood together through the most difficult of times and the most prosperous of times.
And the United States and Australia have always shared a partnership that is about a world order that favors freedom, and that’s why we’ve always stood together.
And in pursuing that freedom, it, of course, goes to our security interests. But more than that, it goes to global prosperity. It goes to global freedom, the freedom of our seas, the freedom of our region. It goes to addressing the global challenges of climate change, a new energy economy, and a very — very challenging future, but one that our partnership, I have no doubt, will be able to address.
But it’s not just about our partnership, because our partnership reaches out to so many others, whether it be our friends in the ASEAN nations or in Europe or elsewhere, where we share so many like-minded interests.
And so, the issues we discuss in our partnership today really do reach out to so many others in terms of how we address the global challenges.
So, Mr. President, I want to thank you for your leadership and your focus on the Indo-Pacific region. There’s no doubt you get it.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: I think the last point you made is important. It goes well beyond just our partnership. Our partnership is in line with all the other democracies in the world.
And we got a lot of work to do. So, thank you all very much.
Press Conference Washington DC, USA
21 September 2021
Prime Minister: Before I come to the very significant events of today, last night when we last spoke, we were being updated, I was being updated, on the situation of the earthquake in Victoria. Pleased that overnight, as further information has come in, those events have ended up being less serious than first thoughts. We welcome that. But, of course, it was an earthquake. That's a serious thing. And I want to thank all of those last night in Australia who were working this response and the coordination between federal and state government. Obviously, we need to remain cautious because of the threat of aftershocks and wish those well who are going through and inspecting and shoring up those properties that were affected and any damage that was there for that. It is pleasing to know that what was first feared was not realised, particularly in relation to any reports of serious injury. And that is very welcome news.
Today, Australia received overwhelming support for our AUKUS partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom. We received overwhelming support when it came to Australia moving ahead to establish a new submarine fleet for Australia, to ensure that we can contribute to the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific. There is great enthusiasm for us going ahead with these projects, whether it is from the Secretary of Defence, the bipartisan support that was on display today up on Capitol Hill, both at House and Senate. In the Congress, there is an overwhelming sentiment towards Australia. This has been built on a 70 year alliance and more than 100 years of standing together, the respect that the members of Congress feel for the service of our men and women in our defence forces, the way that Australia has applied itself to this partnership, as I say, looking to the United States, but never leaving it to the United States. That is a position that is understood in the United States and is one that is respected. And that has laid the platform of trust that has enabled us to establish this this new level of our partnership. And so I look forward with great confidence based on the extensive discussions I've had today at all, at all levels and across the partisan divide here in this town in Washington. And that will enable us, I think, to move forward in this next phase.
It was also pleasing to have discussions across the broader array of defence and intelligence issues as we met with those with both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The support on the Hill, of course, in the US system of government will be absolutely necessary as we progress this important partnership. It's great to have the strong support of the President, the executive of government, and today it's very clear that Congress and the Senate will be backing this in. There's a lot more work to do. But that work will be done in a spirit of cooperation, in the spirit of endorsement. So a very, I think, successful day for Australia, an important day for Australia, but one where Australia's ability to contribute to this partnership, and so not only are our own interests served in that endeavour, but also the United States can see the great value at all levels of what we're seeking to achieve here and they're getting ready to work with us.
Journalist: Prime Minister, around the time you went to the Pentagon, Joe Biden, the President, was able to make a 30 minute phone call to Emmanuel Macron, one result of which is going to be the return of France's Ambassador to Washington by the end of next week. What is your interpretation of the consequences that flow from that conversation for Australia and the resumption of diplomatic normality in Canberra?
Prime Minister: I welcome the fact that they've had that discussion and that was discussed between President Biden and I yesterday. So I'm glad that call took place, I'm glad that he was able to reinforce not just from the United States perspective, but from all partners in this new arrangement that we very much want to see, not only France, but all the nations, Europe, our like-minded nations in Europe, playing a very important role in the Indo-Pacific. That's what it means for Australia. And I think it's been very important for the President to have that engagement. I look forward and when the time is right and when the opportunity presents that we will have a similar discussion. The issues that we're dealing with are different. Of course, Australia decided not to proceed with a very significant defence contract. And understandably, we know that France is disappointed about that. I think those issues will take further time to work through than the ones that were being dealt with between the United States and France.
Journalist: Are you confident there won't be any congressional roadblocks then, given what you said about the AUKUS partnership and your conversations today. And, Dan Tehan said yesterday in Canberra that states that follow the national plan should be able to travel by December at the latest. Would that include international travel? And did you discuss that with Boris Johnson last night?
Prime Minister: On the first matter, based on the overwhelming bipartisan support that we saw today right across the leadership in both the Congress, in the House and the Senate, I can only go forward with confidence. But, of course, there are many issues still to work through. We all understand that. But we go forward from a position of great trust and great enthusiasm. The United States, amongst the parliamentarians that we met today, truly understand what the challenges are that Australia faces. As I said yesterday, President Biden gets in, the Congress gets in, the Senate gets it. And that is a great encouragement to Australia. They understand the challenges we've been facing. And they only wanted to give us messages of support, respect and encouragement. It was a very proud day to be Australian.
Journalist: On the second issue, Prime Minister?
Prime Minister: Well, you only ever have lively discussions with Boris Johnson, and that was tremendous to spend time together last night. At 80 per cent vaccination rates, the national plan provides for people to travel again. And that's certainly what we intend to facilitate and for vaccinated people to travel. We're not looking for any special arrangements. If you're vaccinated, then we are hoping to have in place, we're expecting to be welcoming back students, we're expecting to be welcoming back skilled migrants, expecting to be welcoming back when they're vaccinated, people into the country on that basis. Particularly, the Premier of New South Wales and I have already been working through those issues because they're likely to be the first state that goes into that opportunity. So I look forward to that. I think Australians look forward to that. That's the point of being in a position now, this week, we will hit three quarters of Australians aged over 16 first dose, and we will hit one in two having received their second dose. And those vaccination numbers will continue to rise. And as they rise, the opportunities to get back to life as normal as it can be living with the virus, will just be coming closer each and every day.
Journalist: Just to clarify that answer, Prime Minister, does that mean that the English cricketers and the Barmy Army will be able to come in for the Ashes in December? And you've said a couple of times now that when the opportunity presents itself, you will speak with Emmanuel Macron. But have you reached out, have you offered to, to have you tried to call him and speak to him now? And is he just not taking your call?
Prime Minister: Yes, we have. And the opportunity for that call is not yet. But we'll be patient. We understand their disappointment and that is the way you manage difficult issues. It's a difficult decision. It was a very difficult decision. And of course, we had to weigh up what would be the obvious disappointment to France. But at the end of the day, as a government, we have to do what is right for Australia's national security interests. And I will always choose Australia's national security interests.
On the other matter, I would love to see the Ashes go ahead, as I shared with Boris last night. But there's no special deals there, because what we're looking to have is vaccinated people being able to travel, now how more broadly, visitors coming to Australia will be able to travel, that's an issue we'll have to look at carefully. But in terms of what those, I don't see a great deal of difference in skilled workers or students who will be able to come to Australia when you reach those vaccination rates, those who are coming for that purpose when it comes to their profession, which is playing cricket, I don't see the difference between that and someone who's coming as a skilled, qualified engineer or someone who's coming to be ready for study. That's the opportunity that we get when we get to those higher rates of vaccination. And that's the pathway that we spoke of. Now, how many states are at that position will obviously determine where people can go.
Journalist: Prime Minister Boris Johnson said to the French President "donnez-moi un break". What is your message to the President, do you agree with Boris Johnson?
Prime Minister: Well, I don't speak French. That wasn't one of my strong suits when I was at the school or even at university. But Boris has a way of expressing things that only Boris can. But, look my message is this, we value our relationship with France. We have still around $6 billion worth of defence contracts with French companies. We have $32 billion worth of defence contracts with European countries. And we see Europe and France working with like-minded partners like Australia in the region to ensure a more stable and secure Indo-Pacific. So our door is wide open. Our invitation is there. We understand the hurt and disappointment and we'll be patient and we look forward to working with our friends again.
Journalist: Just following Annelise’s question, Prime Minister, the White House put out a statement today saying that the two leaders - that's Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden - agreed the situation would have benefited from open consultation among allies. How can that not be read as anything but a direct repudiation of your brand of diplomacy?
Prime Minister: Well, they were dealing with different issues to Australia. The United States and France are NATO countries. And there are certain expectations amongst NATO partners about how they're engaged with each other on national security issues. Australia is not a member of NATO. The dialogue between the United States President and the French President was a function of their relationship. We had communicated, as I've said on many occasions, that we believe that a conventional submarine was not going to meet our requirements. We discussed that issue with the French over several months, and I was very clear that we would be making a decision based on Australia's national security interests. We made that decision. I understand that they're disappointed. We've acted in accordance with what we were able to do under the contract and will honour the obligations that flow from those decisions in the contract. And we will seek to continue to engage with. The issues that the US President was addressing are very different because it's a different relationship and has different obligations. We've been meeting our obligations under the relationship, but we decided not to go forward with the contract. So, of course, they're going to be disappointed. I'm not sure how people thought they wouldn't be disappointed or that there was any other way that such news could be made more attractive, of course it wasn't attractive news. Of course, it would lead to disappointment.
Journalist: Prime Minister, the President essentially apologised for a lack of transparency. You said you communicated with the French, but they clearly still feel very angry, angry and blindsided. Are you willing to apologise to Macron now or when you get to speak to them, will you say sorry to him for what's happened?
Prime Minister: I acted in accordance with Australia's national security interests ...
Journalist: So you won't apologise for that?
Prime Minister: ... and that is something Australia should always do, and I think all Australians would expect me to do. Hard decisions have to be made by prime ministers about our interests. And so, of course, that is something that was necessary for me to do. I don't share your interpretation of what the US President has said, the US President has said. I don't think it's fair for you to paraphrase him or put words in his mouth.
Journalist: Prime Minister, are you disappointed that all this diplomatic drama around AUKUS so far has taken away from your messages around climate change, cyber security, COVID and all those sorts of things?
Prime Minister: No, not at all. What I've encountered here in Washington, as I did in New York, was excitement, support for this extraordinary new level of partnership that we've been able to bring together between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. And today, it was a great opportunity to talk about the other issues that you've raised with many of our partners here in the Congress and the Senate, and to advise and for them to pleasantly receive the news, I mean the progress that Australia is making with a 20 per cent reduction in our emissions, which I was able to say is above what has been achieved by the United States, Canada, New Zealand and a range of other countries. Our commitments are always backed up by plans. And I said that's an important thing about Australia. In Australia, if you make a commitment, you've got to have a plan of how you are going to achieve it. And that's what I will always do.
Journalist: Prime Minister, you've been very enthusiastic today about the reception you received in the US, about the passage of the potential legislation through the Senate and the Congress. Overnight, Senator Wong has raised some issues about Labor's concerns in Australia about the deal. How confident are you that you will be able to take Labor into your confidence and get the passage of required legislation through the Australian Parliament?
Prime Minister: Well, I think Australians would be puzzled as to why there can be bipartisan support for this initiative in the United States and within days, within days, the Labor Party seems to be having an each way bet. I don't have each way bets on national security. If the Labor Party wants to have an each way bet on national security, the Australian people need to know that. The leader of the Labor Party set out three conditions of their support, all of them are met. All of them are met. So it really is a question for the Labor Party. It's important that this had bipartisan support. That was certainly the message that was delivered by the leader of the Labor Party. Of course, these matters will be worked through in the normal way, but the conditions that he set out are overwhelmingly met and will be met.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Nancy Pelosi today praised your leadership on China. What exactly does she mean by that? And how do you think that's been read by Beijing?
Prime Minister: Well, I can't speak to how others read things, all I can speak to is that Australia's record of standing up for our values and staying true to what we believe in, ensuring that we are a resilient country that values our sovereignty and works with our partners, stands up for freedom across the Indo-Pacific, these are values and goals that the United States shares. So here, as I found in many roles, there is an easy agreement between friends on these issues.
Journalist: The Shrine of Remembrance yesterday in Melbourne, Prime Minister, there were scenes there that are very disturbing. What's your response to those?
Prime Minister: I think those scenes were disgraceful and the conduct was disgraceful. I think the RSL President put it best, this is a sacred place, not a place of protest. It was disrespectful and it dishonoured those Australians who had made the ultimate sacrifice. And I would hope any and all who were engaged in that disgraceful behaviour would be ashamed.
Journalist: Did you have a response to Paul Keating's comments about AUKUS?
Prime Minister: No.
Journalist: Did you have any discussion with the Secretary of Defence about what the increased military capability will be in Australia?
Prime Minister: Sorry, I missed that?
Journalist: At your meeting at the Pentagon with the Defence Secretary, was there any discussion about what that increased military capability of the US will be in Australia, including marine numbers, or are they asking for anything like a missile launch program for Australia?
Prime Minister: What today was a good opportunity for us to to lay out these early priorities of getting on with AUKUS. And that, of course, goes to the the arrangements being put in place to progress this 12-18 month program of working through on the nuclear submarines. But, there was also the opportunity to identify other important early priority areas, particularly in the area of cyber, AI, quantum, the electronic capabilities that are so necessary in this day and age, these are the things we had a very good discussion on today. I understand, I deeply share the interest and enthusiasm of the nuclear submarine program, it is obviously the centrepiece as the first initiative of the AUKUS arrangement. But the AUKUS arrangement is far more than the nuclear submarines. The AUKUS arrangement means, as we said many times today, that before such technologies are even imagined, we will already be working together on these. Which means Australia works with our partners to develop these technologies up, that means that you are able to understand them and ensure that we can integrate them into what we are doing in the earliest possible opportunity. There is a very encouraging understanding amongst all those I met today about the significance of what this new partnership means. This is something that so many people who work here, up there on Capitol Hill, the friends of Australia, who we met with today. These are the sorts of things they have come together to hope for and now they see them realised. And that was very rewarding to be there and see that. And I think it's very exciting about where this goes forward.
Journalist: Prime Minister, the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said today she conceded that the US perhaps should have consulted with the French before the announcement of AUKUS. Do you feel like we should have consulted with the French before that announcement took place?
Prime Minister: Well, as I said, I'd already been engaged with the French going back to the middle of June, making it very clear that Australia had very big concerns about the capability of the conventional submarine and its ability to meet the strategic environment that Australia would have to operate in. I made that very clear. Both in discussions and in correspondence with the President. The President sent out Admiral Morio to meet with our teams to discuss these issues. So there'd been three months of discussion around that particular issue.
Now, I respect the fact that the Naval Group, the French Government, while they shared our view about the changing strategic environment, they naturally were of the view that they thought the capabilities they were providing could meet that. We didn't share that view and we don't share that view. And that view was not shared by our partners. Now, as I said before, the United States is a NATO partner, it has a different relationship to Australia. We had a contractual arrangement with Naval and we had been working through those earlier contractual issues where there'd been some real difficulties. So we'd had an ongoing dialogue with the French Government on many issues, including the one that determined fundamentally our decision not to proceed through that second gate of the contract. And so we will now pursue the issues that are necessary to pursue following on from that decision based on what the contract provided for. And it's been good to assure people that, of course, Australia will do that. And that's the process we're now in. I look forward to engaging again with President Macron, I know there will be some time before that occurs, but we will patiently pursue those opportunities because we want to work together. There is so much more we're doing. And the bigger picture here, I think, ultimately requires us to come together and focus on those issues. And I'm sure they will. I commend the President on his engagement, that just builds the road map for the rest of us. Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - New York, USA
20 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm very pleased to be here in the United States, first of all to be here in New York. The first responsibility of any prime minister, any leader of any country, is their national security and to always put their national interests first, in securing what's best for their own people. We have great friends and partners and allies all around the world, and over the course of this week, I'll have the opportunity to pursue those goals, shared goals, based on shared values, whether it's here in New York, where I'll meet with President Biden, the head of the European Commission and the European Council. Looking forward to those meetings with the Swedes and our friends from Austria. But also, as we get down to Washington, catching up with those on the Hill. Getting out and having a talk to defence officials as well on the important arrangements with AUKUS.
But most significantly, this visit is all about coming for the Quad leaders meeting. This is a significant initiative. It deals with the many, many issues we need to address within the Indo-Pacific. Issues such as dealing with vaccines, addressing climate change, addressing the changing economy that we're all facing. Working through those issues of supply chains and critical technologies. I know it sounds like a big agenda, and it is because we are living in a world that is changing rapidly. And as that world changes, we need to change with it. And we need to always make sure that we're doing everything we can to ensure the safety and security of Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the European countries are meeting here in New York tonight to consider what they do in response to the axing of the French subs deal. Shouldn't there have been more diplomatic groundwork done before this announcement was made?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're meeting about a number of issues tonight, as I understand it. And the Foreign Minister is here as well as the Defence Minister, who's already had discussions with representatives from the Commission and the Union. But I would simply say this. It was always going to be a difficult decision. And it had to be a decision that was taken in a very secure environment with what we were working on with the United States and the United Kingdom. It would be naive to think that a decision of this nature was not going to cause disappointment, obviously, to the French. We understand that. We totally acknowledge that. And we knew that that would be the case. And it was not possible for us to be able to discuss such secure issues in relation to our dealings with other countries at that time. We have made it very clear, I had made it very clear, that a conventional submarine would no longer be meeting our strategic interests and what we needed those boats to do. That had been communicated very clearly many months ago. We were working through those issues. So to suggest that somehow this decision could have been taken without causing this disappointment, I think would be very naive. That's what hard decisions are. And at the end of the day, you have to do things that are in Australia's national interest and our security interests. And that had to be paramount. We chose not to go through a gate in a contract. The contract was set up that way, and we chose not to go through it because we believed to do so would ultimately not be in Australia's interests. So it was a tough decision. It was a decision that we knew clearly would cause disappointment. And it would be naive to suggest that it would be otherwise.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, President Biden is going to be having a conversation with Emmanuel Macron. Apparently he'd been seeking that over overnight. Are you going to be having a conversation with Emmanuel Macron before you meet with European leaders tomorrow and before you meet with the President tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, that is not an opportunity for that at this time. I'm sure that opportunity will come in time. But right now, I understand the disappointment, and they're working through the consultations with their Ambassador who's returned to Paris and we will be patient about that. We will engage with European leaders, importantly, we'll continue to engage with ASEAN leaders. I spoke to President Widodo on the way over here. We had a very warm conversation. I was able to reassure him, particularly about the issues on non-proliferation and further explained the arrangements around AUKUS.
What Australia does is contributes to peace and stability of the region, and that's our record. We have been able to establish a dialogue partnership with ASEAN for the first time, under our government. And that provides a good channel to further understand the steps that Australia necessarily has to take. I mean, all countries have to take decisions in their interests. All countries in the region understand that. And there is now the opportunity given it has been announced to provide further explanations. And that's exactly what we're doing. And they're being warmly received.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you fear that the decision has put the EU free trade agreement with Australia at risk?
PRIME MINISTER: I can only really, I suppose, quote, I think it was the Foreign Affairs Chief from the European Commission, who said you don't mix apples and pears. And I think that's a pretty good summary of the situation. These issues will be worked through in the weeks and months ahead. I mean, it's not an easy thing to do, to get an agreement with the European Union on trade. I think everyone understands that. The Canadians have been trying to secure one for some time and they've also not made much progress there. But we wish them well with that. But these issues are not easy to arrive at. There are many other factors that come into it. So I think once we work through, tomorrow is a good opportunity to further discuss and explain the necessary decisions that Australia has had to take.
We have commercial relationships with countries all over Europe in particular, including other defence contract arrangements with Germany, for example. And we're looking to establish even more of those relationships directly. I'm particularly looking forward to the discussions with the Austrian Chancellor tomorrow, to that end. So we've got a lot of great relationships here, a lot of great friends, and I'm looking forward to spending time with them, but particularly as we get to the end of the week, that very important Quad leaders meeting and the meetings with the Prime Minister Yoshi Suga as well as Prime Minister Modi. These are tremendous partners, our region together with the United States. And this will be a very important meeting and I'm looking forward to it. Thanks very much.
Remarks, Sydney Airport, Sydney NSW
20 September 2021
Prime Minister: There is no more important responsibility of any prime minister or any federal government than to keep Australians safe. Whether that's been keeping Australians safe during the course of this terrible pandemic, where together we have achieved the result where more than 30,000 lives and indeed more have been saved, working with governments across the country.
We've worked together over many years to countenance the threat of terrorism here on our own shores. Working with partners all around the world and an increasingly uncertain world is our responsibility to ensure we keep Australians safe and we're able to ensure that we can pursue our national interests and the peace and stability of our region.
Since coming to Government, we have lifted Australia's defence effort. We have lifted it from a point which was lower than where it was before the Second World War, to over two per cent of our national GDP, the size of our economy. In doing that, we have sent a very clear message that Australia will always look to others, but we will never have to leave it to others. That we'll be able to sit at the table with our partners and our friends to create a more secure and more stable world, particularly here in the Indo-Pacific.
As I embark now to go and see our friends in the United States and meet with many others, both from Europe, from the UK and the United States. This is all about keeping Australians safe. This is all about, always about ensuring that Australia's sovereign interests will be put first to ensure that Australians here can live peacefully with the many others in our region, because that's what we desire as a peaceful and free nation. The peace and freedom of all of those who live across the Indo-Pacific. So I look forward to having these engagements. They're very important, as we follow on from the significant announcement we made last week with our American and British friends. But it's also about engaging with so many more who uphold the cause of peace and freedom. So I look forward to those meetings. And as always, my job is to keep Australians safe. Thank you.
Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW
19 September 2021
Prime Minister: Ministerial standards set a high mark for both perceived and actual conduct, and particularly in relation to conflicts of interest. All Members, when they become Ministers, understand that, when they sign on and become a Member of the Cabinet and take on the role in the Government's executive ranks. And all of my Ministers seek to uphold those standards at all times. The complex nature, often, of particular arrangements, can sometimes test those standards and their wording and their application in specific circumstances.
In relation to Minister Porter, over the course of the last few days and in the discussions that we have had, the inability for him to be able to practically provide further information because of the nature of those arrangements, if he were able to do that, that would allow Minister Porter to conclusively rule out a perceived conflict. And as a result of him acknowledging that, he has this afternoon taken the appropriate course of action to uphold those standards by tendering his resignation as a Minister this afternoon, and I have accepted his resignation.
His actions have been about upholding the standards. Our discussions today were about upholding those standards. We each believe they're incredibly important. And it isn't just about actual conflicts. It is about, under the standards, for Ministers to have an obligation to avoid any perception of conflicts of interest. And that is what, ultimately, has led the Minister to make that decision this afternoon.
I want to thank Minister Porter for his service in my Government. I want to thank him for his service as the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, most recently. I want to thank him for his role as Attorney-General for several years, not only under my Government, but under my predecessor. I want to thank him for the role that he performed as Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives also. Minister Porter will be returning to the backbench, where he will continue to serve as the Member for Pearce. But, I thank him for his service in our Government to the people of Australia.
Today I've taken the step of appointing Angus Taylor as the Acting Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. He will perform those responsibilities together with his responsibilities for Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. Both of these portfolios sit within his department, and I have no doubt that he will perform extremely admirably in taking on those responsibilities.
On a couple of other matters, just while I have you today. I note that, as you know, I'll be heading off to the United States tomorrow. I'll be going to both New York and to Washington. I want to remind everybody that the purpose of this visit is for the Quad Leaders’ Meeting and the Bilateral with President Biden.
I do note that there has been some reporting and assumption about a Trilateral Meeting next week. That is not something that has been arranged, nor was it intended for it to be arranged next week. That's why we did the announcement this week. I believed it was very important that with such a significant announcement regarding Australia's defence procurements that I should be making that statement here in Australia, rather than overseas. If there's an opportunity, I'm sure, to catch up with Boris over the course of the next week, as we both may be in the same place, then I'll certainly be taking that up. I'm sure President Biden will also.
But, the primary purpose of that visit, which I leave for tomorrow, is to both meet with President Biden across the whole range of the bilateral issues in our relationship and, of course, to meet with the other Quad leaders and the bilaterals with those leaders, from Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Suga, as we come together for the Leaders’ Meeting on the Friday. So, those are the major reasons for my visit. I'm looking forward to them. And, of course, the Deputy Prime Minister will be Acting Prime Minister in my absence.
Just finally, can I note that the TGA has now given clearance for the Moderna vaccines that have come to Australia. They'll be rolling out to pharmacies this week. We anticipate first jabs in arms by about Wednesday. 1,800 pharmacies by the end of this week will be doing that job. There is also 1,300 extra GPs that come online this week for Pfizer vaccinations.
I note that yesterday was a record Saturday vaccination - some 227,036, a record Saturday. And we now have 71.7 per cent first dose and 46.7 per cent second dose. I also note that amongst aged care workers, after a very concerted effort, particularly supported by the mandatory arrangements that we put in place, that we now have 98 per cent of first dose vaccinations of aged care workers, to which those requirements apply to.
I also note that the second shipment of Moderna, the second shipment of the Moderna doses that I was referring to last Sunday, they'll be coming in tonight. That'll be another 700,000 doses that will be coming in this evening, which will continue to support the vaccination program.
I note today the Victorian Premier has outlined his forward roadmap, consistent with the national plan on those 70 per cent and 80 per cent targets. These additional mRNA doses will, of course, be helping Victoria to achieve those targets and to ensure that we can open up as soon as we possibly can. Happy to take some questions.
Journalist: Prime Minister, if you’re saying Christian Porter has upheld the Ministerial Standards, why is he resigning?
Prime Minister: He's upholding the standards by resigning, is my point. If he doesn't believe that he can provide what we believe is necessary, then it is the appropriate course of action for him to do that.
Journalist: Prime Minister, you obviously asked your department and Phil Gaetjens to look into this and provide advice on this matter. Can you commit to releasing the advice Mr Gaetjens provided to you? And further to the reason behind the resignation, if Minister Porter was able to disclose the donors that gave to his legal fund, so that you could work out whether there was a conflict of interest or not, would he have needed to resign?
Prime Minister: Well, that advice I have not yet received, and the Minister has taken his own decision in relation to our discussion of the Ministerial Standards, and that matter is now concluded.
Journalist: Prime Minister, would you call this an error of judgment from Minister Porter?
Prime Minister: No, what I'd call it is the Minister being the beneficiary of an arrangement that prevents him from being able to disclose to me in a way that would allow him to satisfy that he does not have a conflict of interest or a perceived conflict of interest. That's how, that's how I'd describe it, and the application of the standards and my understanding of them and our discussion, and he's acted in accordance with his understanding, as well. And there are grey areas in these issues. As I said, complex arrangements, when applied to particular circumstances, can be inconclusive. But, the Minister has taken the decision, which errs on the side of upholding the highest standard.
Journalist: Do you really think he doesn’t know where the money came from?
Prime Minister: It's a blind trust. He cannot disclose to me who those donors are.
Journalist: That doesn’t mean he doesn’t know who they are.
Prime Minister: Well, the issue for the Prime Minister is about whether a Minister is in a position to ensure that he can satisfy himself that he doesn't have a conflict of interest, perceived or otherwise. And, so, the Minister has taken a decision which respects that standard.
Journalist: Do you know how much money he was paid?
Prime Minister: That's included in his Register of Interests.
Journalist: PM, I’m just trying to work out what changed between earlier in the week and today, since you don’t have the advice that you commissioned from your department into this matter. What caused the need for him to resign, if he didn’t need to resign earlier in the week, but he did today?
Prime Minister: Well, it's only, it's only been since Wednesday, and today’s Sunday. And nothing has changed, other than the opportunity, I think, for the Minister and I to have further discussions and the Minister himself to consider the matter further, as have I.
Journalist: So, did you ask him to resign, PM?
Prime Minister: There was no need for that. The Minister has taken his own decision, based on the circumstances that are here, and he wants to do what he believes is the best thing to uphold those standards and to, and for the Government, of which he's been a very significant contributor to over a long period of time.
Journalist: But, earlier in the week you were saying you needed the advice from Mr Gaetjens to work out if Ministerial Standards had been breached?
Prime Minister: I said I was taking advice but, and have been taking further soundings. And I believe it's important to deal with the matter, and I have.
Journalist: Will he pay the money back?
Prime Minister: Well, there is, he is no longer a Minister. So, the matters regarding Ministerial Standards have been concluded.
Journalist: Is it even appropriate for him to remain as an MP while he’s been the recipient of that money, that could have come from anyone?
Prime Minister: Well, you're now talking about a different set of issues, which relates to the Parliament, and I am not the custodian of the Parliament. The Parliament is the custodian of the Parliament. I am the custodian of the Ministerial Standards. And, so, I have acted in accordance with those Ministerial Standards. I take them very seriously. I said this week that I took this matter very seriously. I was not going to make a decision or engage in this issue on the run. As you know, we were dealing with some other very serious matters this week regarding Australia's defence and security interests. And once I had been able to address those matters, it afforded me the time to deal with this issue fairly promptly.
Journalist: So, it sounds like Minister Porter will not repay the money because he’s quit from Cabinet. Can you just confirm that? And, also, if one of your Ministers ...
Prime Minister: What Minister Porter does now is a matter for him. He's not a Member of my Cabinet.
Journalist: And if, considering your comments about the fact that if Mr Porter had been able to identify these donors he could have stayed in Cabinet, does that mean Ministers could take donations for private legal matters in the future, as long as they know where they came from?
Prime Minister: If there is any need to update the Ministerial Standards on these matters to ensure there's greater clarity, then I have no doubt that my department will be advising me to that end.
Journalist: So, do they need to be updated to reflect the fact that Ministers shouldn’t take … ?
Prime Minister: I'm sure if the department believes that they should, they will give me that advice, and I'll act consistent with that advice.
Journalist: Prime Minister, you’re still his boss.
Prime Minister: No, no, the people of Pearce are his boss. He is a Member of Parliament. He’s a Member of Parliament and a member of the Liberal Party, and, like I am the Member for Cook. And, ultimately, to sit in the Parliament, then it is up to me to maintain my faith with the people of Cook. And he is in the same position, and he’s served the electorate of Pearce extremely well. And, so, he will go back to doing that job for the people of Pearce, and sit as a Government member.
Journalist: So, Minister Taylor will take on the role as Acting Minister.
Prime Minister: That’s right.
Journalist: Do you expect him to be, continue in that role? Will you do a reshuffle?
Prime Minister: When I return from, when I return from the United States, I’ll have more to say about those issues.
Journalist: Now, will that be a broader reshuffle, or just a one in, one out?
Prime Minister: When I get back from the United States, I'll have more to say. But, there is no need other than to deal with the immediate issues that are created by this set of events.
Journalist: Prime Minister, in your opinion, should a lawyer like Christian Porter have known better than to try this on?
Prime Minister: I expect my Ministers, all of them, and myself, to uphold the Ministerial Standards, and to act in accordance with those Ministerial Standards. And Minister Porter, by taking the decision that he has today, that's the appropriate decision in these circumstances, that reinforces our Government's commitment to those standards. We hold ourselves to them, and where we believe that people need to take action to ensure they are upheld, then they have. And it's not the first time this has occurred. I take Ministerial Standards very seriously. My Ministers understand that, and they've taken actions where it has been necessary to ensure those standards are upheld.
Journalist: Does the Liberal Party endorse him as the candidate at, in the next election?
Prime Minister: Well, I'm not actually specifically aware of where that's up to. And, but he is, of course, if he wished to stand again, then I'm sure he’d put himself forward to the selectors of Pearce for the Liberal Party. And, in our Party, those selectors will make those decisions. This isn't Fowler. This isn't some deal in Fowler, we're talking about here, in Pearce. I'll leave those sort of deals to the Labor Party.
Journalist: Just on the subs issue, do you regret any way in which it was communicated to the French? I mean, the French Prime Minister has recalled, or the French have recalled their ambassador. Do you regret that happening?
Prime Minister: Well, of course, we are disappointed about the actions of recalling the ambassador, but we understand them and we respect them, and we understand the deep disappointment about the arranged contract that we had to build the Attack-class submarines here in Australia. As we were going towards the next gate, the scope two gate, that we formed the view that the capability that the Attack-Class submarines were going to provide was not what Australia needed to protect our sovereign interests. That's what the decision was about. It was about protecting Australia's sovereign interests. And, of course, it is a matter of great disappointment to the French Government and to the Naval Group, and those who are working on the project. So, I understand their disappointment. But, at the same time, Australia, like any sovereign nation, must always take decisions that are in our sovereign national defence interests. And, that's what we've done in this circumstance. I have, we have made this clear for some time. This was an issue that had been raised by me directly some months ago, and we had continued to talk those issues through, including by defence ministers and others. There had been a range of issues earlier in the contract and throughout the contract that we had continued, we had discussed on numerous occasions. But, ultimately, this was a decision about whether the submarines that were being built, at great cost to the Australian taxpayer, were going to be able to do a job that we needed it to do when they went into service. And, our strategic judgment, based on the best possible intelligence and defence advice, was that it would not. And, so, therefore, to go forward, when we were able to secure a supreme submarine capability to support our defence operations, it would have been negligent for us not to.
Journalist: You said you raised it some months ago …
Prime Minister: Yes.
Journalist: … but when did you directly tell President Macron that you were tearing up this contract?
Prime Minister: The night before.
Journalist: The night before the announcement?
Prime Minister: At about 8.30, slightly after 8.30, on the night prior to the announcement.
Journalist: So, before then they were of the opinion it was still going ahead?
Prime Minister: Well, no, I think they had, they would have had every reason to know that we have deep and grave concerns that the capability being delivered by the Attack-class submarine was not going to meet our strategic interests. And we had made very clear that we would be making a decision based on our strategic national interest.
Journalist: But, if they knew, why did they accuse the Brits and the US of stabbing them in the back, and Australia?
Prime Minister: Well, I don't share that view.
Journalist: But, they're obviously very aggrieved by this. If they knew that there were so many problems, why are they so aggrieved, in your mind?
Prime Minister: Because a contract, which involved a large amount of work and a significant contractual value, was terminated. That's understandable when that occurs, that the party that was involved in that, other party in that contract, would be aggrieved and would be disappointed. I understand that. I totally understand that. But, equally, I'm sure people would understand that Australia's national interest comes first. It must come first. And it did come first. And Australia's interests are best served by the trilateral partnership that I've been able to form with President Biden and Prime Minister Johnson. That is what serves Australia's long-term national interests. That's what I think ensures that we can contribute more significantly to peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. And that is what is in Australia's best interests. So, I will always do what's in Australia's national interests. These are difficult decisions, and their implications for these decisions, and we understand that. And, so, we look to work with the French and many other like-minded partners. But, on this occasion, pursuing that contract, that build for that submarine, was no longer the best decision for Australia, and it wasn't in Australia's national interest.
Journalist: But, do you regret, do you regret the way in which you communicated this to President Macron, the way it’s led to the bilateral relationship between Australia and France deteriorating over the past couple of days?
Prime Minister: I don't regret the decision to put Australia's national interests first. Never will. Thank you.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
16 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: G’day. I'm joined by the Secretary of Defence Greg Moriarty and the Chief of Defence Force General Campbell. The relatively benign security environment that Australia has enjoyed over many decades in our region is behind us. We have entered, no doubt, a new era, with new challenges for Australia and for our partners and friends and countries right across our region. This challenge will require more of us in Australia, and all of us who share a common vision about peace and stability and security in our region, so all nations can enjoy the fellowship of our region, the trade and the opportunities for our peoples, so they can realise what they want for their countries, just as we want for our country. That's what we seek. That's what Australians and our friends have always sought.
Today, I announce a new partnership, a new agreement that I describe as a forever partnership. A forever partnership for a new time between the oldest and most trusted of friends. A forever partnership that will enable Australia to protect our national security interests, to keep Australians safe, and to work with our partners across the region to achieve the stability and security of our region. This forever partnership that we have announced today is the single greatest initiative to achieve these goals since the ANZUS alliance itself. It is the single largest step we have been able to take to advance our defence capabilities in this country, not just at this point, but for the future.
It has been some time in the making, it is true to say. These types of forever partnerships don't happen overnight. It has been the product of great patience, of great determination, of a deep relationship forged between our nations and indeed the personal-level working relationships that we have been able to forge between leaders, between ministers, between our systems over an even longer period of time, led of course, by the Chief of the Defence Force and the Secretary of Defence, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the many missions that have been involved in around the world, but particularly in these countries.
It is a forever partnership that has been diligently pursued by my Government to enhance cooperation, to deepen our integration, to position Australia in the best and strongest way possible, and to contribute to the stability and security of our region, that will benefit all in our region, no exceptions.
As our first major initiative, it is as we have announced today, for Australia to achieve a nuclear-powered submarine fleet. Not a nuclear armed, a nuclear-powered. And to commence that build here in Australia in Adelaide within the decade. Nuclear submarines have clear advantages, greater endurance, they're faster, they have greater power, greater stealth, more carrying capacity. These make nuclear submarines the desired substantial capability enhancement that Australia has needed. It helps us to build regional resilience as part of this first initiative. It is the first time this technology has ever been made available to Australia. And, indeed one other country has only been given access to this technology back in the late 50s, the United Kingdom from the United States. This is a one off, as the President in Washington has made very clear. This is a very special arrangement and a very important one for Australia.
Australia was not in a position at the time we took the decision back in 2016 to build and operate a nuclear-powered submarine. That wasn't on the table. It wasn't on the table for a range of reasons. So, the decision we have made to not continue with the Attack class submarine and to go down this path is not a change of mind, it's a change of need. The goal has remained the same, and Australians would expect me as Prime Minister to ensure that we have the best possible capability to keep them safe and to be unhindered in pursuing that as best as I possibly can. And that is what I have done.
The developments that have occurred since 2016 do now make a nuclear-powered submarine fleet a feasible option for Australia, which is what I first tasked the Secretary of Defence to inquire into. We now have the support and expertise of the United States and the United Kingdom. Next generation nuclear-powered submarines will use reactors that do not need refuelling during the life of the boat. A civil nuclear power capability here in Australia is not required to pursue this new capability. These are game changing differences in the technology and the opportunity that Australia has, but there have also been game changing developments in the strategic circumstances of our region, which continue to accelerate at a pace even not envisaged as little as five years ago.
Contractual gates were built into the Attack class project necessarily. Those gates were there for a reason. Decisions have to be made before you proceed through those gates, and so, as we were looking towards that next gate, we have decided not to enter through it as part of the Attack class program, but instead now to pursue this path which gives us a far greater capability to meet the strategic needs.
I stress again, this is about propulsion. This is not about acquiring nuclear weapons. Australia has no interest in that. No plans for it, no policy for it, no contemplation of it. It's not on our agenda. And we will continue to meet all of our obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as our partners in this exercise will also do.
To ensure exacting standards are met, a new multi-agency taskforce has been stood up to manage our pathway to a nuclear-powered maritime submarine capability. Over the next 18 months, the taskforce will work with our American and British partners to ensure the full suite of requirements that underpin nuclear stewardship, including waste regulation, training facilities, basing, workforce, and our forestructure are in place. We take the stewardship responsibilities of this nuclear capability very seriously. It is a forever responsibility for a forever partnership.
And we don't come to this from a standing start here in Australia. Australia has a long history of safety and reliably operating nuclear reactors at Lucas Heights, not too far from my own home in the Sutherland Shire. We have built a world-class nuclear safety and regulatory capability, and we possess decades of experience of safely operating and sustaining submarines in addition.
Our acquisition of nuclear-powered submarine technology will though form part of a set of strategic deterrence capabilities. This is not the only thing we have to do. Our investment in defence will only increase in the future. The lift will only go up, it won't come back down. We will have to do more. We have invested more as a Government. We have increased our defence spending as a share of our economy to over 2 per cent ahead of time, and we will have to keep pressing forward, not just to meet these significant commitments we're entering into to develop this nuclear submarine capability, but the many other capabilities that will be necessary to ensure we keep Australians safe and we have a stable and secure region for the future.
Today I'm announcing, in addition to the acquisitions announced as part of the 2024 structure plan, that we will be enhancing our Long-Range strike capability, including Tomahawk Cruise Missiles to be fielded on the Royal Australian Navy Hobart class destroyers, and Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (Extended Range) for our Royal Australian Air Force capabilities. And the Secretary of Defence and Chief of Defence Force can speak further to those. These capabilities will be coupled with our planned Life-of-Type Extension of Australia’s Collins class submarine fleet, which remains, I stress, one of the most capable conventional submarines in the world, and will enhance our ability to deter and respond to potential security challenges during the transition to a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
As I’ve noted, we will not be continuing with the Attack class submarine program and have advised Naval Group and of course, the Government of France and President Macron of that decision. I want to stress that France remains an incredibly important partner in the Pacific. There is few, if any other country around the world which understands the importance of the Pacific and has been as committed to the Pacific as France. These are matters that President Macron and I have discussed on many occasions. We share a deep passion for our Pacific family and a deep commitment to them, and I look forward and I hope to see us continue, once we move past what is obviously a very difficult and disappointing decision for France. I understand that. I respect it. But as a Prime Minister I must make decisions that are in Australia's national security interests. I know that France would do the same. And I know, ultimately, that will be understood and we'll be able to continue to work together for our many shared goals and aims, because fundamentally we share the same values, we share the same vision.
I acknowledge the uncertainty that this announcement will generate for those currently employed in the Attack class program, both in defence and industry. I know that you have worked tirelessly to deliver the Attack class program. In doing so, you have developed some of the most in-demand skills, not just in this country but anywhere in the world. You are vital to Australia's future in securing this new capability. What we have invested in you, what we have invested in the program with the Attack class to now, is an investment which is setting us up for what we go forward with as a country at this critical time. Your skills are in unprecedented demand because of the commitments the Government has made to embark on the largest regeneration of the Royal Australian Navy since World War II. We need you. We needed you. And we will still need you, and we will continue to enlist you in this great national effort to ensure the skills that have been developed are kept with this great national enterprise.
One of the key defence priorities of the Government has been to build our continuous naval shipbuilding program. This of course is enhanced by these decisions and will be further supported by the AUKUS partnership that will provide further capabilities into the future, some of which not yet even imagined.
In South Australia, we will, it will be continue to be the home for the Collins class submarine full-cycle docking. I know this is a decision that has been eagerly awaited in South Australia. I had made it very clear on my recent and ongoing visits to South Australia that we would determine this matter once high-level strategic issues had been decided. As is clear, those matters are now decided, and it is important, strategically important, that we maintain the full-cycle docking capability there in South Australia and we continue with those operations there.
In addition, we will continue beyond 2026 with the full Life-of-Type Extension of the six Collins class boats. That will commence in 2026 and be on a two-year drum beat. In addition to that we will, with our Hobart class destroyers, undergo their combat system upgrade at Osborne from 2024. So, there will be a lot getting done. South Australia, and particularly Osborne, will be a hub for Australia's naval shipbuilding ambitions and programs.
Our investments in Western Australia, our other great shipbuilding centre, will continue, and are significant. And I was able to discuss these with Premier McGowan this morning. He is aware as I am, three different classes of ships are under construction in the West right now, with more to follow over the coming decades. Ten Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Vessels, 21 Guardian Class Patrol Boats, six Evolved Cape Class Patrol Boats, up to eight new Mine Counter Measure and Military Survey Vessels, an ice-rated replacement for the Navy’s Ocean Protector, a new large Salvage and Repair Vessel, and up to four support ships for the enhanced Undersea Surveillance System. Western Australia will continue to play a key role in sustaining Navy's fleet with Collins class submarine intermediate and mid-cycle dockings continuing at Henderson through and until the mid-2040s. The Government will also work with the Western Australian Government, as we discussed this morning, to invest in a large dry dock at Henderson, which will enable naval and commercial vessels from Australia and around the region to be maintained in the West for decades to come.
The Government's investments will also see the establishment of regional maintenance centres in New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland, providing sustainment hubs through which local businesses can contribute to nationwide supply chains.
But at its heart, today's announcements are about the oldest of friendships, the strongest of values and the deepest of commitment. That's what it takes to have a forever partnership. And I believe that this forever partnership will set Australia up. But not just Australia, our partners in ASEAN, our family in the Pacific, who we love dearly, our Quad partners, our bilateral strategic partners in the region, our great friends in New Zealand. I spoke to Prime Minister Ardern yesterday. She was my first call because of the strength of our relationship and the relationship between our countries. All in the region will benefit from the peace and the stability and security that this partnership will add to our region. It's there to add, it's there to contribute, it's there to support for everyone in the region. That's what we want in Australia, and that's what we're always committed to.
And with that, I will note on another matter, today we will hit 70 per cent of the country aged over 16 who have had their first dose. That 70 per cent double dose and 80 per cent double dose mark is within plain sight. Keep going Australia.
I'll invite the Secretary of Defence to make some remarks and then the Chief.
MR GREG MORIARTY, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE: Well, thank you Prime Minister. And, you know, on behalf of the Department and the ADF, I'd like to thank you for your commitment to defence, to the growing of defence capabilities, and the broader AUKUS framework, under which I'm particularly looking forward to engaging with US and UK counterparts around the cutting edge technologies, not just the nuclear-powered submarine but the other, the other opportunities that are made available to us through the AUKUS arrangement, quantum, AI, cyber, undersea capabilities that we will be able to look to in future, the sort of weapons systems that will continue to give the ADF a potent capability advantage in the decades ahead, because the threat environment is changing, and some of the analysis done within our agencies and the broader intelligence community I think has been made available to the Government and is one of the factors that they've taken into account as they've arrived at these decisions. So, the AUKUS framework offers great opportunities for defence to keep that capability edge in new and different ways moving into the future.
Prime Minister, in terms of the nuclear-powered submarine venture, we will over the next 12 to 18 months undertake that detailed work with US and UK partners. I know we, we've been directed by Government to absolutely maintain the highest standards of safety and security when it comes to the development of the nuclear capability. That is important for the Australian people, Prime Minister, but it's also important for our people who will operate these capabilities for decades to come. So, I reassure you and the Government and the Australian people of Defence's absolute commitment to the highest international standards of nuclear safety and security.
We are also committed to our Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations. Our international partners demand that of us, and we are determined to be able to meet those, meet those standards.
It's an enormous amount of work we will be doing in the, in the coming 18 months, Prime Minister. The taskforce will look at issues such as the industrial pathway, the weapons suite, the census sweep that will be on these boats, the skilling and workforce needs that we will have, not just in defence but in broadly, in Australian defence industry. We'll be looking at that full range of infrastructure needs, what we need to do in terms of developing future, future capabilities to be able to build, operate and sustain these capabilities to give Australia that sovereign capability.
So, Prime Minister for Defence this is a very exciting day. A lot of enormously complex work ahead of us, but we are absolutely committed to delivering this capability for the Government. Thank you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Secretary. Chief.
GENERAL ANGUS J. CAMPBELL, AO, DSC, CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE FORCE: Prime Minister, thank you for the decision today, and my thanks from the Australian Defence Force for the decision of the three
leaders today. Our strategic environment has deteriorated. Our key strategic documents speak of this. That challenging environment is becoming more challenging, and is set to do so into the future at an accelerated pace. This decision is very welcome in terms of the development of the Australian Defence Forces for structure and its forced posture, and particularly that long view potential of the AUKUS agreement and the wide range of advanced technologies the three nations will work together to build on and to develop for the security and stability of our own nations, and indeed of our region.
The Australian Defence Force and the Department of Defence have a wide range now of work to do through this 12 to 18 month period. But as the Secretary has emphasised, the commitment to our obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty are absolute. Our determination to safely and appropriately understand, develop, and employ these capabilities is the total commitment of our organisation in that regard. And we look forward to the continuing development of Australian defence and security capabilities suited for our nation. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. I'm just going to ask my staff to grab me a glass of water, if they wouldn't mind. So in conclusion, then, I want to thank a number of people. Of course, I want to thank the Secretary of Defence and the Chief of Defence Force, and all of those who have worked so hard within both organisations over the course of these last 18 months. I particularly also want to thank my parliamentary colleagues and my government colleagues. I want to thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne. I want to thank the Minister for Defence Peter Dutton, particularly in these last four or so months. There has been an enormous amount of work that has been involved in taking this through our National Security Committee and addressing all the necessary issues that you know we would have to address.
But, I also want to thank the Deputy Prime Minister for his great support of this initiative, as a, as the Deputy Chair of the National Security Committee. So, thank you Barnaby. Can I also thank Linda
Reynolds, the former Minister for Defence. It was Linda and I who commenced this project many, many many months ago, and we worked very closely together on this over a long period of time, and I want to acknowledge her role in getting us to where we are today.
I also want to thank the former Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who was the previous Deputy Chair of the National Security Committee, worked together with myself and of course, the Treasurer and the Foreign Minister and others who serve around that table, the Attorney-General, Minister for Home Affairs to ensure that we could carry this issue to this day. So, to you, Michael, thanks mate, and, and I know he'd be very pleased to be seeing this announcement today, as I know Linda would also.
But, I've got to say my greatest thanks are to my partners in this forever partnership, this AUKUS partnership, to President Joe Biden and to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. I introduced them today as great friends of freedom and great friends of Australia, and they truly are. They understand what goes to the heart of our relationship, the security and defence of peace and freedom. That is what has always sustained us, and when we met together at Carbis Bay for that historic trilateral meeting, there was a clear sense of shared purpose. There was an easy sense of agreement. This was a natural territory for us, each of us to move into. “But, this is Australia,” President Biden remarked, in understanding the depth of our experience over more than a century. And similarly with Boris, with whom you know I have a close friendship. He has been an absolute energiser, as we’ve worked through these many months to come to this agreement. So, to Boris and to Joe, thank you very much for being great friends of our country, and thank you for the work that your nations have done, not just now, but over a long period of time to guarantee the peace and freedom, not just of the Indo-Pacific, but the world more broadly. Happy to take questions. Mark.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what if China see this as a provocation, nuclear-powered submarines, cruise missiles, long-range air missiles - won’t they just frame this as a Cold War type weapons build-up? [Inaudible] Are you prepared for more economic trade sanctions from China in in response to this, and are you seeking a meeting with President Xi to explain what this is all about?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that, that engagement has already commenced with China, as it has with many countries in the region, including our Quad partners in Japan and India. I spoke to Narendra Modi and Yoshi Suga last night. Of course, I said I’m, I spoke to Prime Minister Ardern. I'll be having further calls today as we talk through these issues and that engagement with China, and there is an open invitation for President Xi and I to discuss these and many other matters. And that has always been there. Australia remains open to discuss these and all issues that are important to the Indo-Pacific. I believe and hope we would both share the same objective of a peaceful Indo-Pacific, where the sovereignty and independence of nations is understood and respected, and that enables their own citizens to flourish. Now, that's what we all want. It is not an uncommon thing for countries to take decisions in their own strategic interests and to build up their defence capabilities. China makes the same decisions, as does other countries within our region. So, I don't think that should be seen as necessarily extraordinary or in the terms that that you suggested. And any response that was along the lines that you suggested I couldn't see as that corresponding with what Australia has done.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how much do you have to pay in terms of compensation to the Naval Group, what's the dollar figure in compensation, if you can give that for us? Have you spoken to President Macron yet and if so, what was his reaction? And then, the other thing I wanted to ask you in relation to, if you look at NATO, for example, Article 5 Collective defence, it requires every member to come to the other members’ defensive attack. We don't have that, despite all of the commitments in ANZUS and AUKUS now, lots of dollars going in. Is it time for that sort of Article 5 commitment from the US, UK and us?
PRIME MINISTER: We are very, very pleased with the arrangements we have with the United States and our many other partners in the region. And no, we are not pursuing those types of arrangements. The ANZUS alliance and many other partnerships and agreements we have, we believe, suit our security interests and has served us very well. And AUKUS takes that to a whole new level, a whole new level. And, and so we're very pleased with where that has brought us to. In relation to President Macron, he and I had a very lengthy dinner engagement and discussion back at the end of June, not long after I'd been with President Biden and Prime Minister Johnson in Carbis Bay. He had been there also. And so we were able to discuss the strategic situation in the Indo-Pacific at great length and what Australia's capability needs were. And I was able to set out very clearly that there were very real issues about whether a conventional submarine capability would be able to address those going forward. And so I was very clear. We have always acted. And as I instructed the Secretary of Defence to operate in total good faith in our dealings with Naval. There was never any, never any certainty that what has been a long and and painstaking process, that it would result in where we are now and to have that capability. Indeed, if we were unable to access this technology and to have a fleet of nuclear powered submarines, then the Attack class submarine is the best conventional submarine that we would be able to utilise. And we remain of that view. If you're looking for a conventional submarine, if that's what you'll need is, the Attack class is a great submarine and the Naval Group is a great organisation to deliver such a submarine. And the French Government gave enormous support to that initiative. And I'm a very appreciative to President Macron for the many discussions that he and I have had over this project and as indeed my predecessor had about these issues. So, of course, they're disappointed. We have been able to directly communicate, I have, that decision to President Macron and that was followed up, that communication with a telephone discussion between the Minister for Defence and Ministers of Foreign Affairs and their counterparts last night. Of course, they're disappointed. But I want to be clear. This in no way reflects in any way, shape or form on the Attack class submarine, the Naval Group and the commitment of the French Government and indeed President Macron personally to this project. They have been good partners. This is about our strategic interest, our strategic capability requirements and a changed strategic environment. And we've had to take that decision.
JOURNALIST: What is your message to WA workers? I understand all those projects [inaudible] but it won't equal the number of jobs that the [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: No. There's more jobs going into Western Australia now than FCD was ever going to deliver to Western Australia. I mean, the large list of projects that I read out to you far exceed those types of programmes. Western Australians are Australians. Like New South Wales residents are Australians. And all Australians benefit from the national interest decisions to protect Australians and to keep Australians safe. And the decision that is necessary to keep Australians best safe is for the full cycle docking to be undertaken in South Australia to maintain the continuity of what has been achieved by the team that has been engaging in that process in South Australia. One of the reasons that we have been able to secure access to this technology is not just what I mentioned about the technological changes. It is about the performance of what we've been able to do with the Collins Class compared to where we were a decade ago. That has been transformed. That has significantly bolstered the confidence in Australia to manage submarines, and that has assisted us to get to this decision today. So maintaining the continuity of that support in South Australia was the strategically right decision, and that was the advice that we received. But there are many other projects that we're pursuing in Western Australia. There will be a lot of ships built in Western Australia by Western Australians and they'll be equally putting their shoulder the wheel to that national task.
JOURNALIST: Will we be getting the British made Astute class or the American made Virginia Class? What is the one expected cost to the Australian taxpayer?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll ask the Secretary of Defence to add to my answer. What we have agreed to do as the first initiative of AUKUS is to now put in place this 12 to 18 month programme of finding the most effective pathway to delivering the submarine fleet for Australia.
JOURNALIST: It could be [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: We haven't determined, we haven't determined the specific vessel that we will be building, but that will be done through the rather significant and comprehensive programme assessment that will be done with our partners over the next 12 to 18 months. Now, that will also inform the costs that relate to this, and they are yet to be determined. But as I said before, and what I'll ask Greg to do is talk a bit about that process and how that works and the things to be considered, because that also goes to ensuring that we're addressing the nuclear stewardship issues as part of that. But we will have to spend more on Defence. We said that when we came to government, because we understood that that was necessary. Defence spending as a share of our economy had fallen to the lowest level since pre World War times, Second World War Times. Now, we've turned that around, it's now over 2 per cent, about 2.2 percent now and we will continue to need to invest more. That's what the new era looks like. That's what living in this new world looks like. We will need to do what it takes because that's what you have to do to protect Australians and to keep Australians safe in what is a radically and rapidly changing part of the world. Greg, can you speak to the 18 month process?
MR GREG MORIARTY, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE: Prime Minister, so over the next 18 months, the taskforce that will set up a number of working groups with our US and UK partners, some of those will look at safety standards, at the workforce. The optimal pathway to deliver this capability to Australia needs to look at what is Australia's requirement and then what can our US friends and our UK friends contribute to that. So part of that is looking at design parameters. Some of it's looking at the industrial capability requirements that we will have. So, it's not correct to say at the moment it'll be, it'll be A or B. That's what will be achieved. And the team are ready to start engaging with their partners on that straightaway.
PRIME MINISTER: The Secretary hadn't finished, but Clare?
JOURNALIST: White House officials have briefed out that the nuclear submarine will give Australia the ability to play a much higher level with regards to Indo-Pacific security and augment American capability, do you think the US expects we will be more proactive militarily in the region, is that the case? Should Australians expect more military action against China and what impact might this have in terms of response to the change in security threat I mean rather than against China, what impact do you think this will have in terms of the tensions in the South China Sea as well?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Australia will continue to engage with our partners in the region as we have for a long time. And clearly the AUKUS partnership enables us with the capabilities that it will deliver to Australia and to our partners will enable us to do that even better than we are now. And what that does is contribute to stability in the region. It actually contributes to a secure Indo-Pacific and it delivers, I think, a more free and open Indo-Pacific whether that's in the South China Sea or anywhere else. You see, that is our purpose. Our purpose is to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific and we join with everybody who is seeking that purpose.
JOURNALIST: One of the early criticisms, PM, has come from Paul Keating this morning. He put out a statement very critical of the dependence on America in this arrangement, that we're basically locking in our future with the US for decades to come and sacrificing our sovereignty and independence. Given the American defeat in Afghanistan and questions about American power, what's your response to that concern about our dependence on America for the long term?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't share Prime Minister Keating's view, and I prefer to be in the company of John Curtin and Robert Menzies when it comes to this issue and John Howard and indeed many prime ministers over the course of a long history. In addition to Robert Menzies, there have been 14 Australian Prime Ministers who have stewarded the ANZUS alliance together with 14 American Presidents. This has come from both sides of politics on both sides of the Pacific. And this has always been a project that has gone well beyond any partisan issues, I think, in either country. And that is welcomed. Everyone's entitled to their view of these issues. The former Labor Prime Minister is entitled to his views and to be respected for those views. But they are not views my government shares. My government shares the view that I think is grounded in the decisions of Curtin and Menzies, which is always understood that our relationship with the United States is a forever relationship. It is a relationship that has served our peace and security interests for a very, very long time and will forever into the future. What I'm excited about with this relationship under AUKUS, is it brings together the third partner in what have been the most long standing relationship for Australia with the United Kingdom. And there is also a very unique relationship there and this formalises that to a whole new level when it comes to defence and security and diplomatic relations. And so I welcome that. And I think most Australians will. But one of the reasons the three of us come together, is we respect democracy and we respect freedom and we respect the diverse views that are there. I'll come here and then I'll come back across that way.
JOURNALIST: You talked about increasing defence spending and that it will have to go up, what is, how much are you prepared to put it up by? The US spends three and a half percent of GDP on their military, is that the sort of thing that you're committing Australia to today? Does it have a.
PRIME MINISTER: I haven't indicated any percentages and I'm not, we're not going to have future targets expressed in those terms. Our defence investment will be in response to the need and the capability requirements that are identified to address the many issues we have to and what this partnership produces for us. And so we will meet it there. But what I'm saying is it's more than where it is now and it will continue to be. It's certainly more today where it was than when we first came to government. And we understood that when we came to government and we have restored, we have restored Australia's defence capability as a government. I mean, that has been a significant and hard won goal for our country, and we've done it in the national interest. It had been neglected, it had been under invested in and many other countries had been down similar paths, not Australia. When I was on the White House lawn in 2019, I said and I've said it many times since, we look to the United States, but we never leave it to the United States. And the same goes for United Kingdom. We carry our own water in this arrangement. Always have, always will
JOURNALIST: The experience with the French submarine project saw blow outs, delays, all sorts of complications. How confident are you and can you assure Australians that we can get this new, very complex capability in the timeframe that you think we need?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I wouldn't share your assessment of the project as you outlined it. I'm aware of those criticisms, but I don't believe they are all founded in what is fact and I'm sure the Defence Secretary would agree with me and he may wish to comment on that. But that is largely history now. And the investment we have made in working that capability with attack remains with us. It, it continues to support our capability and the knowledge and skills and experience of those, whether it's in our Department of Defence, Defence Forces, our defence industry capability. The engineers have been trained, the access that they've had, all of this has built. And so they have been important investments going forward. Building nuclear submarines, building any submarine is not a simple exercise. It's incredibly complex. There are enormous, there are enormous uncertainties involved in these projects. It would be nice to say that it was a simple process, but it is not. And the challenge in managing any project of this scale in this nature is dealing with the challenges along the way. And what has been very positive, I think, in the relationship we've had with the French Government and President Macron in particular, that is, the challenges that you refer to have arisen, we've worked through them and we've come to better positions on those. And that indeed was demonstrated in the scope to works that was set out to us at this most recent stage, which was done in good faith. We will take the same approach when it comes to working through the development of this very significant and complex task. That's what Prime Minister Johnson said, is probably one of the most difficult programmes to deliver of projects anywhere in the world. But we'll get it done and we'll be getting it done with the best of friends and the most trusted of partners.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: We've invested $2.4 billion in the Attack class programme, and I say all of that investment, I believe, is further building our capability. And I think that is consistent with the decision that was taken back in 2016 for all the right reasons to protect Australia's national security interests and to serve that purpose. Investing in your defence capabilities is always a good idea for Australia. And so that has been a good investment for Australia's capability. When it comes to the delivery of this programme, I indicated that we anticipate being able to commence build this year and the first of those submarines will be in the water, we believe, before the end of next decade. And all partners will be working to ensure that is achieved at a date as soon as is possible to achieve. That is important not just for us, I remind you, this isn't just about a partnership that is serving Australia's interests. This is a partnership that is serving the joint interests of the United States and the United Kingdom. And so this is a capability that combines with theirs. And so there is a great motivation and incentive for all three of us to get on with this and to get it done as quickly and as effectively. Of course, always paramount, as safely as possible. And that's what we will do and the capabilities that we will continue to ensure are present for our submarines, particularly the Collins class. Now, the Collins class life of type of extension will see those six vessels in the water for decades to come, decades and decades to come. And that will provide our submarine defence capability there to support the many other capabilities that will be added to that. I've referred to the Tomahawks. I've referred to the other area surface capabilities that we've announced today in the upgrading of the Hobart AWD, all of these sorts of things, all of those very important to ensure that we address the strategic challenge. So while the submarines will be delivered when they'll be delivered, so many more elements of the capability that are made possible by all this, will be delivering in the years ahead from now doing all of those things. And that's what it's designed to achieve. It's designed to achieve now and it's designed to achieve tomorrow. That's what AUKUS delivers. I'm dealing with Defence today.
JOURNALIST: Why do we need these subs now and if this is about China as a threat to regional security, then what do we do in the meantime, presuming we won't have the subs for some time?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think I just answered that question in relation to the last question.
JOURNALIST: Does this decision now make the rescindment of the land bridge lease over the Port of Darwin much more likely? Will the US, is the US asking us to do that? And further, has President Biden agreed to back our sovereign guided munitions industry?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going to make any comment on the latter point and on the other two points, they're not related.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the blind trust that Christian Porter ...
PRIME MINISTER: Are there any other questions on Australia's sovereign defence capabilities before we go to the other issues of the day?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just following up on the last part of Daniel's question, which is do we expect an enhanced military presence from the US in this region? I've heard what you said about scaling up our own capability, but that's an important question that requires an answer, because the whole context of this announcement is the strategic environment. And also on Porter, if I may …
PRIME MINISTER: I'll deal with that later, I'm going to do the Defence first, but I'll come back to you. I know people are keen for me to address that, and I'm happy to.
JOURNALIST: All right. Well, do we expect an enhanced US presence in the region in the time frame between now and when these submarines will be delivered?
PRIME MINISTER: These are matters that we are directly discussing with the United States and with the United Kingdom. They're also matters we're discussing with the French. And I hope we continue to discuss those matters with the French. You can expect to see Australia working with more and more partners, but particularly with the United States and the United Kingdom as a result of this arrangement to ensure we're addressing our strategic needs here in the region and for those to be done carefully and to be done in accordance with all the usual protocols and protections that you'd expect. And as we go into the latest AUSMIN talks, where I would normally be joined by the Foreign Minister and the Defence Minister here for announcements such as this, but they are already on the ground working AUKUS up and its immediate implications as they go into the 2021 AUSMIN talks. So the short answer is we can expect that, yes, but there are no announcements that I have today in relation to that. And if there were, then obviously we would do that.
JOURNALIST: This might be one for the Secretary as well. Just for people at home, what is the expected lifetime of these submarines? And just a little bit more detail on how we deal with the waste after that's done, because members of the Greens have been very agitated this morning about the waste.
PRIME MINISTER: They tend to be agitated as a general principle, but I'll ask the Secretary of Defence to address those issues because that will be addressed as part of the 18 month programme.
MR GREG MORIARTY, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE: Certainly, I mean, the management of waste, the disposal of the submarine at the end of its life, all of those are issues where we will be engaging with our US and UK partners. They have decades of experience dealing with these issues. And we're going to be drawing heavily on their expertise over this 18 month period too.
JOURNALIST: Will that be playing a big part [inaudible]?
MR GREG MORIARTY, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE: All of these issues will be matters for government. The Department's job over the next 18 months is to engage with our international partners, to discuss these issues, to draw on their expertise, to be able to develop plans to bring forward to government.
PRIME MINISTER: To answer your specific question, no, that is not the plan of the government. That is not the plan of the government. The arrangements for that particular site were very clear in what was taken through the Parliament. And it doesn't extend to that type of arrangement. I've got one here and then I'll deal with that other matter.
JOURNALIST: A lot of the companies that have already signed contracts with Naval are small and medium businesses, what is your message to them today and how do you think this announcement will affect them?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, look, as I acknowledged in my opening remarks, obviously the disruption caused of not going forward with the Attack class programme and moving to this new programme will have those implications. That is unavoidable for a decision such as this. I have no doubt, though, that more broadly, the strategic national interest decision that was required of Australia would not have us not pursue that for want of those issues. And I think that would be understood. And I would also say to them, we need you. The same capabilities that you were bringing to the Attack class programme, the same skills, the experience, the people, the ingenuity that you were bringing to that programme. We will need not just for this programme, but in South Australia in particular, whether it's the Hobart upgrade, whether it's the other programmes that we are running there. This will all need those skills and experience and not just in South Australia, but all around the country. For example, those who are working on the Osborne shipyard. This is an issue that the Premier and I discussed. Premier Marshall and I discussed. And I want to thank him, too, also for how we've worked through this. There is a lot of building work to get done, and we don't because of COVID at the moment, have large numbers of people who are immigrating to Australia at the moment. And so even today, on the workforce numbers that we have, that I have some knowledge of, but you'd appreciate I haven't been briefed on them because I've been out here. But that shows that we're going to need people in building jobs, in construction jobs. There's a lot of work to do and there's a lot of work that needs to be done by the very companies that you're talking about. We're going to need them. And there's a very strong future. We will be investing more in naval shipbuilding, not less. And that means we need them.
Now, I've heard the other two questions that are on this issue, and I'm happy to address them. I've already issued a statement which I've said that we are looking carefully. I take the matter very seriously. We are looking carefully at the arrangements and what the Minister would be required to do in order to ensure that he is acting consistent with the ministerial guidelines.
JOURNALIST: Did you know that Christian Porter's legal fees were part paid by the trust before he declared it on the register of interests and will he stay on your frontbench?
PRIME MINISTER: I refer to my previous answer. I've outlined what the pathway forward is, and that's what we're pursuing.
JOURNALIST: Why not just ask him to declare the source of the money or to pay it back now, before getting that advice? Why do you need advice at all?
PRIME MINISTER: Because I'm ensuring that the ministerial guidelines are adhered to.
JOURNALIST: When did Mr Porter first advise you [inaudible]? Did it get taken to the Government Committee of Cabinet and if not, why not? What action will you take if he is in breach of the ministerial code of standards? And given you wrote them, you must have a view on whether or not this arrangement complies with them.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I as always, will ensure that I act very carefully to ensure that the ministerial guidelines are adhered to. I have taken decisions in the past, difficult decisions, when I believe they haven't been adhered to and decisions have been taken as a consequence of that. In the same way on these issues, I will follow the same process. I'll deal with it carefully and as always, I'll ensure that the ministerial guidelines are adhered to. Thank you very much.
Address, AUKUS - Canberra, ACT
16 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning from Australia.
I am very pleased to join two great friends of freedom and of Australia, Prime Minister Johnson and President Biden.
Today, we join our nations in a next generation partnership, built on a strong foundation of proven trust.
We have always seen the world through a similar lens.
We have always believed in a world that favours freedom, that respects human dignity, the rule of law, the independence of sovereign states and the peaceful fellowship of nations.
And while we have always looked to each other to do what we believe is right, we have never left it to each other. Always together, never alone.
Our world is becoming more complex, especially here in our region, the Indo-Pacific.
This affects us all. The future of the Indo-Pacific will impact all our futures.
To meet these challenges, to help deliver the security and stability our region needs, we must now take our partnership to a new level.
A partnership that seeks to engage, not to exclude. To contribute, not take. And to enable and empower, not to control or coerce.
And so, friends, AUKUS is born.
A new enhanced trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States - AUKUS.
A partnership where our technology, our scientists, our industry, our defence forces are all working together to deliver a safer and more secure region that ultimately benefits all.
AUKUS will also enhance our contribution to our growing network of partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region - ANZUS, our ASEAN friends, our bilateral strategic partners, the Quad, Five Eyes countries and, of course, our dear Pacific family.
The first major initiative of AUKUS will be to deliver a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia. Over the next eighteen months we will work together to seek to determine the best way forward to achieve this.
This will include an intense examination of what we need to do to exercise our nuclear stewardship responsibilities here in Australia.
We intend to build these submarines in Adelaide, Australia, in close cooperation with the United Kingdom and the United States.
But let me be clear, Australia is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons or establish a civil nuclear capability.
And we will continue to meet all our nuclear non-proliferation obligations.
Australia has a long history of defence cooperation with the United States and the United Kingdom.
For more than a century, we have stood together for the cause of peace and freedom.
Motivated by the beliefs we share, sustained by the bonds of friendship we have forged, enabled by the sacrifice of those who have gone before us, and inspired by our shared hope for those who will follow us.
And so, today, friends, we recommit ourselves to this cause and a new AUKUS vision.
Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW
12 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: A family sized dose of hope for our vaccination programme. I can confirm today that the federal government has secured an additional one million Moderna doses from the European Union member states arriving next weekend and doubling our Moderna doses in September.
In addition, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, also known as ATAGI, is now recommending Moderna for every one 12 years and over in line with the approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. That means everyone from 12 to 59 can go along to their community pharmacy where Moderna is being administered, and they'll be able to go and get a family jab. They'll be able to go on their pharmacies, family members, kids, parents, and be able to get that jab at their pharmacy. These doses plus Australia's already contracted supply will be shared around 3,600 community pharmacies across Australia and up to 1,800 pharmacies will begin to receive doses through the week of the 20th of September. So those doses right at the end next week and then they'll make their way across those first 1,800 pharmacies and then to the balance.
I particularly want to thank the governments of Spain, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Bulgaria, as well as the European Commission for their cooperation as we work through the arrangements. I also want to thank Moderna for their support for these arrangements, and as well as Norway and Sweden, who have helped facilitate this deal over the course of this these last few weeks. These additional Moderna doses, of course, come in addition to the four million we were able to secure in the arrangement with the United Kingdom, with the swap there and the one million we were able to secure from Poland in the direct purchase arrangement we had there and of course, the 500,000 in the swap arrangement we had with Singapore.
Now, these additional doses will also provide a role in providing additional support for Victoria. And Victoria is currently dealing with the continued surge in cases just like we saw in New South Wales some time ago. And later today, the Minister for Health and General Frewen will be standing up and outlining the arrangements for the surge of of the mRNA vaccine support for Victoria as they deal with the outbreak. Residents in particular in Melbourne's north and west, will benefit from additional vaccines and a rapid expansion of vaccination sites across the region as part of a three week vaccination blitz there in Victoria to deal with the surging Delta outbreak there. To assist these communities and all Victorians, Minister Hunt and I have agreed the Commonwealth will surge more than 400,000 additional doses of Pfizer and Moderna in Victoria over the course of September. As I said, Minister Hunt and General Frewen will provide further details on that this afternoon.
As of yesterday, I should say, 22,473,563 doses have been administered across Australia. More than two in three Australians aged over 16 have now had their first dose, more than two in three. And that's 67.4 per cent right now. And 42.3 per cent of those aged over 16 have had both doses. For over 70 year olds, the news is even better. 90.8 per cent have had their first dose and 70.5 per cent have had both doses. So over 70s, more than 70 per cent have had double doses of the vaccine. And the over 70s age group have always been the most vulnerable. And that gives us an even greater level of confidence as we move into these final phases and we move into the national plan. Some 195,809 doses were done just yesterday on a Saturday. The next few weeks will, of course, be very critical as we work together to reach the targets and the goals set out in the national plan, a national plan that is designed to open safely and to stay safely open. That's what the national plan is all about. Whether you're in a state like here in New South Wales or down in Victoria or the ACT, where they are the subject of lockdowns, or you're in other states where COVID levels are much lower and even zero, where you live in fear of the lockdowns. Where we want to get to is to be able to be open safely and to stay safely open. That's what the national plan is about. Now, in order to support that, we now have enough vaccines throughout the course of October, which we always hoped to do. And certainly by the end of the year originally, we'd hope to be able to get there by October. And now is in fact the case that particularly with these additional doses we've been able to achieve in recent weeks, it means that all of those right across Australia, we will have had enough of those doses so that there is enough for two doses for everyone in Australia who wants one.
Now to keep that momentum going. From tonight, Australians will start to see the next phase of the government's advertising campaigns. This phase of our communications is about encouraging people to look forward. To look forward to the things that they will be able to do and keep on doing. Because as I said it's not just about being able to open safely, it's about being able to remain safely open. And so whether it's seeing friends getting together, going to a family event, whether it's going to a pub or going to a concert, or any of these things, the things that were being held back from for so long and in other states where they have been able to continue to do those things, to be able to have the confidence that they'll be able to keep doing them, knowing that the vaccination programme has been able to achieve its objectives, urging us all to do the first thing first, and that is to go and get that vaccine. And so I encourage everybody from tomorrow over 12s, 12 to 15 year olds will be able to get the vaccine. We're planning for that here in our household for our girls to be vaccinated. They're both between the ages of 12 and 15. And we need the whole country to continue to press forward. The goals are in sight. They are in very clear sight. And they are achievable. They are within reach. And so we now need to continue to surge forward in these final weeks and months of the programme to get us to those vaccination targets set out in the national plan. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] now go to their local pharmacy and get Moderna instead?
PRIME MINISTER: Moderna is available for those between 12 and 59. The 60 plus are still on AstraZeneca.
JOURNALIST: But they can? Anyone can go to their pharmacy and ...
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, 12 to 59, yeah.
JOURNALIST: And so does this mean, just clarify. Does this mean any Australian who wants a vaccine now will be able to get one?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. Between now and the end of October, that will be the case.
JOURNALIST: Will this provide extra capacity for us to make mRNA vaccines available to over 60s?
PRIME MINISTER: When we reach that position, I will advise that. We'll advise accordingly and we'll continue to be guided by the advice we're receiving from the Chief Medical Officer.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what do you say to criticism that deals like getting this Moderna from the EU wouldn't be necessary if there'd been deals earlier with Pfizer?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the hindsight heroes always make their case. And what I know is last year we were very focused on ensuring that Australia had a sovereign manufacturing capability for the vaccines Australia would use. I mean, I reminded those in Canberra this week that Japan signed into a purchase arrangement in July, I think it was, last year. They received their doses just a matter of days before we did. So what was focusing the vaccination supply programme was where there was death and cases running rampant around the world. That wasn't happening here in Australia. And so what we knew very clearly from our engagements with companies last year is that Australia would need to establish a vaccination programme which relied on its own production capability. And so there were two vaccines we focused on because we knew we could make them here. One was, of course, the AstraZeneca vaccine and AstraZeneca vaccine, the mainstay of the UK vaccination programme, saved millions of lives, is the most used vaccine in the world and recognised around the world, I should say. Now, on top of that, we were focused on the University of Queensland vaccine as well. And regrettably, those trials didn't end the way we would like them to. It was an extraordinary vaccine, but it had some side effects of a positive HIV record, which obviously was not something that we could continue to pursue. But our goal was to ensure that we could manufacture vaccines here in Australia so we wouldn't be as reliant on supplies from overseas. Over 10 million of those AstraZeneca vaccines have been administered here in Australia. And that's why I can tell you today that over 70 per cent of 70 year olds are now double dose vaccinated.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can you just clarify for Melbourne in particular where they're going through a particular problem at the moment, when will the doses arrive? Where do they go? Do they go hot spots? Is it both Pfizer and Moderna?
PRIME MINISTER: It is Pfizer and Moderna. And as I said, Minister Hunt and General Frewen will be going through those details later today. And it is focused on those suburbs that I mentioned in Melbourne's north and west, where just like here in Sydney, when we had additional doses coming here into Sydney, that was designed to address the outbreaks in south-west and western Sydney. And we do know from the evidence that followed that that saved lives and prevented thousands of cases, getting those doses in. The one difference between Sydney at that time and Victoria this time is the rate, level of vaccination in thankfully in Victoria right now is higher than it was in Sydney at that time. But that doesn't mean the challenges is not real. And we need to address that. And I want to thank Minister Hunt for the work that he's been doing to ensure that we can respond to those needs. We've already respond directly to the request from the Victorian Government, over 100,000 Pfizer vaccines immediately made available on request. And that will go as part of the broader package to support Victoria. It goes where it's needed.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, with these extra supplies now secured, will Australia continue to need to borrow from other countries, more doses?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, our challenge was always going to be this month. And we have 11 million mRNA vaccines coming in October and again in November. And in September, that's where we needed to bridge that gap. And we did. We'll have 11 million mRNA vaccines here in Australia this month. And that was the target. That was the job that we had to do. And we've been able to fill that gap. And that means we've been able to bring forward a further month with what we were hoping to achieve. You'll remember at the start of this year, we had hoped that we would have enough vaccines to be able to ensure that everyone had two doses, could have those two doses if they chose to in October, late October. And then with the challenges we had with AstraZeneca and, of course, the non supply of the AstraZeneca from overseas in the early phases of the programme that had to be pushed back. Well we've caught up the ground, that's the good news. We've caught up the ground. And the good news today for families is that families can go and get vaccinated together at their pharmacy. I think it's tremendous. We're going to see 3,600 pharmacies right across the country really now joining this, have already been doing vaccines in other parts of the programme, but the Moderna vaccine, which is just like the Pfizer vaccine for everybody who might be listening and watching. It's just like the Pfizer vaccine and all of the vaccines that had been approved by the TGA are incredibly effective, and this is another one of those, and that will mean that particularly starting those 12 to 15 year olds will start tomorrow, that will really give greater impetus to, I think, getting ahead with that programme as well threshold.
JOURNALIST: As we look ahead to that 70 per cent double dose threshold. Do you think pubs should open before schools?
PRIME MINISTER: I am very keen to see kids back to school. I'm incredibly keen to see kids back at school. And the evidence that we're seeing about transmission amongst young people of school age, I think very much supports, very much supports getting kids back to school.
JOURNALIST: Given the AFL Grand Final won't be held at the MCG, some in Victoria saying why not use that night, Grand Final eve, as a good opportunity to have the vaccination hub at the MCG. How would you feel about that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they probably might prefer to do it on the day before, which is a public holiday in Melbourne. They probably want to watch the grand final on Grand Final Day unless I misheard you.
JOURNALIST: No, Grand Final eve.
PRIME MINISTER: Grand Final eve, sorry I thought you meant Grand Final Day, you'd be flat out getting Melburnians away from their televisions on Grand Final Day for any purpose whatsoever. And I imagine more broadly around the country. But no, look, I'm aware of that proposal and there are sufficient doses that are available to support an initiative like that. And if that's what the Victorian Government would seek to do, then obviously we'd work with them on that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the road ahead in terms of international borders, where are we at in terms of when and how those borders will open? What do you say to concerns that we'd leave it too late to find carriers [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the opening up of travel for Australians who are fully vaccinated is contingent upon us reaching the 80 per cent vaccination targets. Now we are fast approaching that. And that's why we've already been working there for many months to put in place the record of vaccination that will comply with what's called ICAO. That's the international organisation that oversees the documentation. And the various information that is needed to facilitate travel. Minister Robert has been ensuring that those record of vaccinations are in a position to be able to be used, and that's very close to completion. So that won't be a challenge as far as I'm aware. And I don't believe it will be. There on that job. And they have been for many, many months to get that right. So, no, I don't see that being a challenge, at least from from our end. We'll ensure that that certificate, that registration, that record of vaccination can comply with all the international travel requirements.
The other thing that is necessary, though, is that we need home quarantine in place. For Australians who are fully vaccinated to travel overseas and return home, they need to be able to quarantine at home. That way you can lift the caps. Australians who are overseas who have been vaccinated with vaccines that are recognised by the TGA, if they can quarantine at home, well these caps, we can say goodbye to for vaccinated travellers. We can say goodbye. And I look forward to doing that. And the only thing that will prevent that is not having a home quarantine programme in place. I've already written to the premiers and chief ministers following up our early discussions about this. We've already got trials running in South Australia. In New South Wales, I know they're progressing their home quarantine arrangements here. Also in Western Australia, they've been running a form of home quarantine with the digital lab there, which is proving to be quite effective for a lot of their domestic quarantine arrangements. So the technology is there to do it. It's just important that the states get in a position to scale that up, so vaccinated Australians, once we hit 80 per cent, can take off again.
JOURNALIST: When we talk about the lockdown [inaudible] in New South Wales, [inaudible] the question of COVID Disaster Payment. How long will that need to stay in place to ensure that the recovery efforts continue?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, if Australia is open, if New South Wales is open and the businesses are open and the jobs are back, then the need for that type of support changes with that. I mean, that's just, that's just an obvious point.
JOURNALIST: Will they be lifted if the lockdowns are over?
PRIME MINISTER: The Treasurer is working through those details with the states and territories. And this is why the 70 per cent mark is a very important one. You don't just go full throttle with 80 per cent. The 70 per cent was designed as part of our national plan to ensure that we could ease back in to the arrangements we have at 80 per cent. And you can see that with the arrangements the New South Wales Government has put in place. And so how the economic support sit around that, I think is part of that transition. But what Australians need is not COVID Disaster Payments. What they need is their jobs back and their businesses they work at open again. And to achieve that, we need to keep getting vaccinated. We keep opening Australia up. And what businesses need is not economic support. They want their customers back. They want their doors open again. And that's what the national plan is. And that's what everybody getting vaccinated achieves, getting back to that is where we need to be. And that will mean that the Australian taxpayer will be able to, having done a tremendous job carrying Australians through, will be able to apply their resources to the many other tasks that we have as a government.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, needing to get kids back to school. What do you say to calls for teachers to be required to be vaccinated and also a call for year 12 students who have suffered through COVID to be guaranteed a place in university or TAFE?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have invested massively in JobTrainer, in vocational education training places, the provision of university places and they'll be there, of course, they will be there. They were there with this year too. We made those provisions this year. And so that will continue. And I think our form on that is the best guarantee because we've done it absolutely. And the other question?
JOURNALIST: A call for teachers to, mandatory vaccination for teachers?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the government isn't supporting mandatory vaccinations, except for public health reasons and very specific circumstances, as recommended by the medical expert panel. And that has been the case for aged care workers. And just to update you on aged care workers. Aged care workers today, 90.8 per cent now had their first dose and 70.5 per cent had their second doses. There's been a considerable effort that's been going in together with the states and territories to the vaccination rates. That is the requirement that is put in place by public health orders. But, you know, my simple advice is this. I should be vaccinated. You should be vaccinated. Everyone needs to be vaccinated. Everybody outside, everywhere else, whether you're a teacher, when you're a truck driver, whether you're a politician, a journalist, a camera operator, whether you happen to be driving the ferry, driving the bus, driving the tram, everyone should be getting vaccinated. That's the best thing for Australia. Now, we're not imposing it. We're not mandating it. It's your choice. It's your health. But I do know this. That when we get to the end of October, and certainly more likely before that, everyone will have had that opportunity. Everyone will have had that opportunity and we'll be approaching them. And perhaps in some states, maybe past the 80 per cent mark, we'll see. But your health is up to you, the opportunity to be vaccinated, which protects you, your family, your community that will be there for you. And so once that has been done, the country has to move on. The country has to make decisions. And we've got to ensure that Australians can get back to living their lives again, which is what the national plan is all about. Thank you very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
9 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, before I start can I just remind everybody today it’s RUOK? Day, and the question we have to one another, not just this day but everyday, particularly as we go through the very challenging times of the pandemic, especially those states and territories that are in lockdown and the impact that that has on the wellbeing of Australians right around this country. Let's look out for each other, let's ask each other RUOK?, and let's be prepared to have the conversation that follows from those questions.
There are so many areas, agencies, organisations that can support people in these situations. We’ve significantly increased the funding to support them, particularly during the pandemic. I was just speaking to John Brogden, the Chair of Lifeline, this week, where we’ve provided an additional $1.5 million to support Lifeline in direct response to John’s request. Very happy to do it as quickly as possible. They’re doing a tremendous job. To all of those who are on the other end of those phone lines today - who are taking those calls, dealing with people in distress - thank you for the tremendous job you’re doing. We’ll continue to support you so you can continue to do the fabulous job that you’re doing for Australians all around the country.
RU OK? - a very important initiative, a very Australian initiative, a very Australian initiative. And, we remember it today and all of those who haven't been ok on a day like today, and doing everything we can to support them.
The purpose for me speaking to you today is to advise that our evacuations from the Al Minhad Base have now been completed. The last flight to Australia landed in Darwin last night. More than 3,500 people have now been evacuated from AMAB to Australia, and that includes over 100 who have been evacuated from other locations after leaving Afghanistan. I said to you here that we would now move into the next phase of our program, our humanitarian program, to bring people to Australia under that set of measures that we have put in place, and so we have been able to conduct one flight that has brought people directly from that region to AMAB. They have been joined by others who were evacuated by other countries over the course of those very difficult few weeks when we were all engaged in the evacuation program. We have been able to identify those individuals who our partners were able to evacuate. They were brought to AMAB and they have now been brought to Australia. More than, or around about 3,500 of the 4,000, over 4,100 people who were evacuated, and now those additional, who have been brought to Australia. Of those 3,500, some 2,500 are women and children, in one of the most desperate and dangerous parts in the world.
That evacuation initiative and effort that was undertaken by our ADF, together with the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was one of their finest moments, and I want to thank everybody again who has been involved. Some 32 flights from Kabul over that period.
Now, we are continuing to work with our Coalition partners now on the next phase of that program. A Special Representative Daniel Sloper has been appointed to address those issues regarding Afghanistan, when it comes to making arrangements to support the humanitarian program in partnership with our other allies and partners in the region, and Chargé Richard Rodgers, who is based in Doha, is our Chargé to Afghanistan, and they are working closely.
The 250 ADF personnel who were tasked to AMAB and then so many of whom actually were there on the tarmac at HKIA in Kabul, they are now, have been, sorry I should say, they have been progressively returning to Australia, and the bulk of them will arrive back in Australia over the next few days, and the arrangements have been put in place to ensure they can go through their quarantine.
I note also today that the, I would normally be joined by certainly the Foreign Minister and the Defence Minister, but they now have embarked on a series of international engagements. They are in Jakarta today for their 2+2, with their Indonesian counterparts. Indonesia being such an important part of ASEAN, and which is at the centre of our Indo-Pacific vision. They will be in New Delhi on the 11 September for 2+2s there with their counterparts, Seoul on the 13 September, and then of course in Washington for AUSMIN on the 16th of September.
We are expecting for the next face-to-face meeting of the Quad to be held in Washington later this month and we’re still awaiting final details of that and I’ll look forward to be in Washington to be part of those discussions with my counterparts from India, Japan and the United States.
On the issue of COVID, an important day today. We’ve gone past the halfway mark - 40 per cent double dosed over 16s here in Australia, 40 per cent. And, the vast bulk of that has been achieved just in the last couple of months. Ninety per cent of Australians aged over 70 have had their first dose, and this week, two in three Australians, two in three Australians right around the country aged over 16, would have had their first dose. And, that continues to be driven by the strong take up and the supply of the vaccines that are supporting the high rates of vaccination - well over 300,000 again in the most recent numbers, and we expect that to continue as these vaccination rates continue to climb.
I also want to welcome the New South Wales plan to reopen. This plan keeps the deal, keeps the faith with the people of Australia and the people of New South Wales, set out in the national plan. This plan supports the initiatives that are there, being driven by the safe process of opening, underwritten by the Doherty modelling, and supported by the national plan. It is a careful and a safe plan, and consistent with everything set out in the national plan, and I commend the New South Wales Government for following through. The discussions I have been having with the Victorian Premier and others over some weeks now - both states in strong lockdowns - moving forward on the basis of the national plan and increasing levels of vaccination in both states.
I can also tell you that I'm advised by General Frewen that by mid-October we will have had sufficient supplies delivered to Australia that would have enabled first and second doses for the Australian eligible population. Now, you'll recall that it had been our original plan that we would have achieved that by October. That was set back many months, and, in fact, about four months or thereabouts. I was then able to say that we believed we could then having with the, with the changes we put in place in the program, we would have been able to bring that forward to before the end of the year. Well, we’ve continued to catch up the ground by securing those additional supplies, and we will now be in a position that we will, we will meet that mark next month, and we'll meet it around the middle of next month. And, so, it really is now up for all of us, operating in a non-constrained environment on supply, to be able to go out there and get those vaccinations, and we're seeing that occur each and every day.
And, I particularly want to thank all of those, particularly our older population who has done the majority of the vaccinations because that's where the vaccines were first available. We started with those most vulnerable, and it means as we go into these higher levels of vaccination, those most vulnerable, amongst our elderly in the community, are those with the highest level of vaccinations, and I'm sure they will be particularly pleased - those who are living in New South Wales - to see the plan which says if you go out and keep your side of the deal, if you go out there and you get vaccinated, you get your two doses, then you can expect to be living with the virus in a way that you would hope to live with the virus. No one freedom day or anything like that. It's not what the national plan does. It's safely, has a soft opening, easing of restrictions, and taking us back to where we want to be. New South Wales has made a great, great big step on that today, and I commend them for the way that they’ve done it. We’ll continue to work closely with them, as we do with all states and territories. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what explanation has Greg Hunt given you, what explanation, Prime Minister, has Greg Hunt given you for not, for declining an invitation to talk to Pfizer's global executives, given that if he had taken up that invitation we might really have been at the front of the queue?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't accept the premise of the latter part of your question, because as we learned in Japan, who signed an agreement of intention to purchase in July, their doses arrived three days before ours did. And, if we look at, say, the situation in the United States, they went forward with an intention to purchase. They started their vaccination in December of last year, and right now, on first doses, we're a couple of weeks behind them. And, so, I think there are a lot of heroes of hindsight at the moment out there, but when you actually look at the achievements of the program and the challenges that we faced, and how we've overcome them and where we are now, and where, more importantly, we're getting to, then the way we've been able to proceed with the program has put us in a place right now where I think Australians can look forward to the balance of the year a lot more optimistically.
Now, on the issue of our engagement with Pfizer, yes, those engagements had started before then. And, they, those discussions were already underway, but it was very clear from those discussions that the focus was not on Australia, the focus was on where people were dying in their thousands, tens of thousands, in the Northern Hemisphere. And, it was very clear to us that what we would have to do is ensure that we had a home manufactured vaccine. And, so, we were applying our efforts to ensure that we had the sovereign capability to produce vaccines here in Australia, and not be reliant on what would be very uncertain supplies from overseas. And, so, we went to the arrangements that we entered into with AstraZeneca to make it here in Australia. Over, well over 10 million of those vaccines have now been administered here in Australia. Had we not done that, then you would have seen the vaccination rates in Australia half what they are today. And, you would have seen those, particularly elderly Australians, not as protected as they have been, as particularly we've gone into these, this latest waves of the Delta strain of the virus. Those other countries went through emergency, emergency approval procedures for their vaccines. Australia didn't do that. We followed the normal process because we wanted to assure Australians that the vaccines that we were asking them to take were safe, in accordance with all the other vaccine programs that the country runs. So, we had been engaging with them at the time, but what is very clear is that what was necessary was for us to establish our own sovereign vaccine manufacturing capability, which we did. And, that has been an important and significant part of our vaccination program, and that has kept thousands, if not millions, of Australians safe from the virus.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you disappointed, are you disappointed that Mark McGowan’s April deadline for reopening will mean families can't be together for Christmas, as you hoped?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think he's underselling Western Australians. What I mean by that is, I think they'll get vaccinated sooner than that. I mean, he's making assumptions that WA won't be able to get vaccinated into some time in January. I don't think Western Australians will be that complacent. I don’t, I have a bigger confidence in Western Australians about their wanting to re-engage with the rest of the country and with the rest of the world. Western Australians look out, they don't look in. And, I know that Western Australians will be keen to move on and get on. That's the Western Australian spirit, and I believe that they'll be able to achieve those vaccination rates well before. I can understand that the Premier would be having a conservative estimate, I understand that, that's, that’s prudent. But, at the same time, I believe they'll be able to achieve well beyond that, and it's very important that our country lives with this virus. The next stage will be hard. We're about to see that in New South Wales and we're about to see it in Victoria. As they ease up, both states know hospitals will come under pressure, we'll see case numbers rise, and that will be challenging. They understand that. We understand that. That's why the planning is being done for them to pass through what will be a challenging time, as they manage moving from Phase B to Phase C. That comes with additional pressure on the hospital system. That's understood. That is inevitable. If you want to live with the virus, you inevitably have to pass down that tunnel, and that will be true in every single state and territory in the country. It will be true for Western Australia. So, my advice to Western Australia is get vaccinated and get ready - get your hospital system ready, get your health system ready, and push through, and we can all reconnect and be one again. Chris.
JOURNALIST: How important will it be for Premiers to hold their nerve through that phase as many call on them to turn back?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, I think it's very important. I think it's very important for many reasons. The first of which is to, you know, prepare your state, prepare our population, prepare the country to understand that getting to the point where you live with the virus isn't easy and you need to be determined and push through. You need to prepare your hospital systems, which indeed I know New South Wales in particular are. They understand where they expect the peaks to come and they are addressing the workforce issues that are necessary. And we're working with them to help them achieve that, as we will with every state and territory. So it is important to keep the nerve. Have your plan ready. Push through, get to the other side, be in the place we want to be.
But the other point is this. For the country to have its strong recovery from COVID-19, particularly Delta. It's not just lockdowns. It's the fear of future lockdowns. We need to be able to move forward and know that they can keep moving forward and that gives people confidence to invest, to employ, to move on. And so it is important to push through and hold your nerve through that process. And that's what the national plan does. That's what it sets out. And it makes that deal with Australians. Says you do what you need to do. We'll do what we need to do. And together, that means we can get Australia to where we want to be. Kath.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, your Government signed and ratified the Paris Agreement. You say that the Government will implement it. It intends to conform. So why would we ask the British Government to remove references in the text to temperature goals in the Paris Agreement in the free trade deal?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it was about trade. It wasn't a climate agreement, it was a trade agreement. And I do trade agreements and in trade agreements, I deal with trade issues. In climate agreements, I deal with climate issues. We're pursuing agreements on clean energy technology with a vast number of countries, and we'll have agreements about that. And, but the key agreement we've made is when we signed up to Paris and the commitments that we made to achieve those. Those commitments are clear. And we'll not only meet them, we'll beat them just like we did Kyoto.
JOURNALIST: Will Australia resist signing up to a global agreement that would limit temperatures to 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial levels rather than the current agreement of well below 2 degrees? And will Australia resist or argue against any global agreement to put a limit, a time, date and expiration date on the coal industry?
PRIME MINISTER: Two answers to the two questions. We have signed up to our commitments under the Paris Agreement. We will meet them. We will beat them. Just like we did with Kyoto. We're already 20 per cent down on emissions, which outstrips ...
JOURNALIST: [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: No, I heard your question. Which outstrips many who are claiming to be able to achieve any number of things now. Well, I know what we've already achieved and that beat so many of those who are seeking to make other commitments. Now, Australia's doing it. Australians are doing it. Australian businesses are doing it. Our resources industry, our energy sector, all of them, they're getting on with it. They're making it happen. They're developing new technology, they're putting hydrogen in mining trucks up there in the Pilbara. They're getting it done. They're getting on with it. And that's the story that we can tell to the rest of the world. Australians, we just get on with it and we are. And the way we're going to achieve it is by ensuring that we're not only developing the technology, but we're applying the technology and that we're meeting the goals that we're setting. We're not going to talk it. We're going to do it. And we're going to keep doing it. And our record shows that that's what we always do. So our commitments have been made and we will meet those commitments as we go forward.
On the other issue that you raised regarding the mining sector. This is critical to Australia's future, absolutely critical to Australia's future. And we'll keep on mining. Of course we'll keep on mining.
JOURNALIST: Coal?
PRIME MINISTER: We will keep mining the resources that we're able to sell on the world market. Now, we obviously anticipate that over time, world demand for these things may change. But I'll tell you, the other thing we'll do is, and that is ensure we'll work, particularly with developing countries, to ensure that they are able to engage in a positive transition of their own energy economies. And they will continue, as the current agreements already provide for, to be using the resources that Australia has exported for a long time and will continue to, well into the future. But they will be able to use those resources and I think in a far more climate friendly way, and we will partner with them to help them achieve that, because we actually are quite passionate about the economic success of countries in our region. We want them to grow. We want them to develop. We want them to have trained and skilled workers. We want them to have industries which support the wellbeing of their of their population, both for their own sake, but frankly, it's in our interests too. And so we want to help them make that transition over the next 20, 30 years by being a technology partner with those developing economies. It's not a matter of just sending developing economies a cheque and asking them to sit down. That's not a plan for developing economies. That's not a plan for them at all, while the rest of the world goes on with what it wants to do. Developing economies deserve an economic future and Australia will partner with those developing economies to ensure that technology which will transform our own energy economy, can transform theirs, too. And they will find us to be a very trustworthy partner.
JOURNALIST: On the Quad meeting and Indo-Pacific. Do you believe that the continued Chinese ownership of the Port of Darwin is an inhibiting factor to the growth of Darwin as a military presence for the US forces up there? And do you share the concerns and reservations of some of your colleagues that terminating the lease would invite a very firm response from China?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's a matter that's the subject of a review being conducted by the Department of Defence. And I'll wait to hear their advice.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on an answer, [inaudible] Japan. What about Singapore? The country has had similar experience [inaudible] with COVID. It signed a deal much earlier, it got Pfizer shipments in December last year. Doesn't that show it was possible for us to be earlier in the queue?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Singapore has gone down a different path. We went down the path of establishing a sovereign vaccine manufacturing capability that has seen more than ten million doses of the AZ vaccine into the arms of Australians and is significantly underwritten that vaccination programme. I mean, our vaccination rates would be half what they were today were it not for our decision to put in place the sovereign manufacturing capability here in Australia for AstraZeneca. What was very clear, when the world was in crisis and the northern hemisphere was seeing millions of people die, hundreds of thousands, you know, on a weekly basis, that that's where the focus of those companies was. We need to deal with our own challenges and have our own Australian solutions to them to make our own Australian way. And that's exactly what we did.
The other one we were engaged with at the time, you'll remember, was the University of Queensland vaccine. And I'm sure, had that proved successful, well, that would have been a great cause for celebration. It didn't. It didn't. At that time last year, there were many, many different vaccine options and none of them had any guarantee of certainty. And anyone who, today, wants to pretend that back then that certainty existed, well, that just simply would not be realistic. And so we pursued sovereign manufacturing vaccine options for Australia. That was the priority that was recommended to us, of course, by our health advisers. And they were the opportunities that we pursued. And having that home-grown advantage, we believe, would give us greater protection.
JOURNALIST: When did you or the Health Minister personally meet with, or have a phone call with, representatives from Pfizer?
PRIME MINISTER: That was back in the first half of last year when the Health Minister was engaging ...
JOURNALIST: When did you have a phone call or a meeting, not write a letter to, when did you first actually speak to ...
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you'd have to speak to the Health Minister about that.
JOURNALIST: No, but when did you? There is discussion about these meetings in July of last year. When did you meet Pfizer? Did you ask Pfizer for instance ...
PRIME MINISTER: I would have been talking in the second half of last year.
JOURNALIST: And did you ever ask Pfizer could we get more than ten million doses? What efforts did you make to get more than those ten million?
PRIME MINISTER: Every effort that we could.
JOURNALIST: In what way?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I've answered the question.
JOURNALIST: Well and further to that we do have the benefit of hindsight now. But was Greg Hunt right not to take that meeting with the global executives of Pfizer in June or July last year?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll let others make those judgements. I simply say this. It was one of many engagements that we were having with vaccine companies around the world. And they were happening with Pfizer at the time. To suggest they weren't, would be false. There were many records of the engagement between the Government and Pfizer at the time. Our political opponents have highlighted one set of correspondence, but there are many others which highlight the connections and engagements that were taking place between Pfizer and the Government. And at the end of the day, we were able to secure the doses that we did. We were able to establish the sovereign vaccine manufacturing capability that we did with AstraZeneca. We've been able to secure, most recently, an additional five million Pfizer doses through our engagement, both with the Polish Government and the UK Government and a further half a million from Singapore. There are still some irons in the fire that I'm working on. And at the end of the day, what does this mean? In the plan that we set out last year which said that we would hope to be in a position by the end, by October, that we would have had enough doses to cover the population for two dose vaccinations, we now expect to achieve that in mid-October. So that is where all of these events have led us to. And I think when you come up against the challenges in a global crisis, you adapt, you overcome and you seek to make up the ground. And that's exactly what the government has done. And no one has put more effort into that task than the Minister for Health. No one has had more sleepless nights and lengthy hours than the Minister for Health in securing the best possible health outcome for every single Australian. And of course, there'll be critics in the middle of a crisis and there'll be lots of hindsight heroes and there'll be lots of others who said this could have been done or that could have been done. But, you know, if they want to focus on the past, that's fine. My Government is focusing on the future. The national plan is the future. The national plan says, let's get those jabs in those arms. Let's get Australia open again. Let's get Australia together again. Let's keep our deal with Australians and making sure that can be achieved. And that's exactly what the New South Wales Government has done today. Good on you, Gladys. I look forward to similar steps being taken by other premiers around the country, which no doubt they will. No doubt they will, because I know they want to keep that deal with Australians.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] Given that bureaucratic situation, is also happening at a time when the Taliban are ramping up, their search for western allies and others, what assurances can you give that Australia is doing all that it can, to get people out now while there's that window of opportunity, or have we truly moved to this next phase where it’s unlikely we’ll be bringing extra people on humanitarian visas in the next few months?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I started this press conference by highlighting the fact that since we completed the evacuation of Kabul, that we've already brought more than 100 people since then. Since HKIA was shut, and both the US and British troops left, we have already been able to lift up over 100 people and they're on their way to Australia and should be here very, very soon. The level of effort and coordination and dedication that was required by our immigration officials and the Department of Home Affairs to achieve that, as I said three and a half thousand people, including those we've only just lifted out of the region. And to get them back to AMAB and then to get them back to Australia and to deal with the many complex factors that go with that two and a half thousand of them and women and children, I think that tells you the dedication of our immigration people to trying to resolve these issues as quickly and as professionally and as safely as they possibly can. They're doing extraordinary work and they're saving lives, extraordinary work and saving lives. And they're going to keep saving lives. We're going to keep working through all those issues. It's very complex. There are many priorities to address. And Special Representative Sloper, I think, will really help us in coordinating with the other partners and allies there in the region. I've had a few text exchanges with President Macron in the last few days where this issue has arisen. It continues to be a matter of discussion between me and the British Prime Minister and, of course, with the President of the United States when we spoke last week. And no doubt they are things that will be taken up when I meet with him later this month. So we're very focused on this task. I'm very proud of the work that our Defence Forces have done, that our Home Affairs officials have been engaged in, our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade save a lot of lives. They've done Australia proud. Thank you very much.
Address, Women's Safety Summit
6 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: I am glad to be with you - as we continue the Women’s Safety Summit following on from the constructive roundtable discussions held last week.
I also acknowledge the presence today of so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women - and honour the role they play in nurturing culture, country and community right across Australia.
I also acknowledge any women and men here who have served our nation in the defence forces and I thank you for your service on behalf of a grateful nation.
And I particularly acknowledge the survivors of domestic and sexual violence who are present with us at this summit.
Your lived experience is foundational to informing the development of the next National Plan to end violence against women and their children.
I want to thank you for participating. I want to thank you for your bravery.
This is an extraordinary and important gathering.
Like you, I wish it was in person, but we adapt to our times, responding to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This summit is a gathering of Australians from many different backgrounds and experiences lived.
It is a place for sharing; it is a forum for listening; it is a platform for change.
Your stories, your expertise, your experiences are critical to the next National Plan.
A national plan that seeks to end violence against women and their children, a national plan that builds on the outstanding work of my predecessor Prime Minister Gillard who set us on this course more than a decade ago. A bipartisan cause, I'd go further, an a-partisan cause that has taken us through the last 10 years and establishes the platform for us to go further.
It is a big goal that we share, and it is a shared goal: to end violence against women and their children.
No single person has all of the answers.
And, neither does any single government.
But, together, well that’s a different story. Together, we can listen, we can learn and we can make change.
We can identify barriers, behaviours, practices and gaps - so that Australia is a safer place for every Australian woman and girl.
We can draw on lived experience and research findings through this summit.
And turn them into meaningful action.
And the only way we end violence is to focus our efforts to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Primary prevention is a key plank of the current National Plan and will continue to be fundamental to our long-term strategy.
We need to change behaviours and attitudes, so that we stop violence before it starts.
Our country must become a place where every woman feels safe, and can live free of fear.
That’s what freedom is.
That’s every woman’s right.
But it’s far from every woman’s reality, as we know.
Right now, too many Australian women do not feel safe. And too often, they are not safe.
And that is not okay.
There is no excuse. And, sorry doesn’t cut it.
They are not safe at home. They are not safe at work. In broad daylight, you are not safe. In public space, you are not safe. You are not safe here in this place, even this place where I speak to you from today, are not always safe
And what started as a conversation about long-standing and serious failings in this very workplace - in this Parliament House - turned into a conversation about women’s experiences everywhere.
It is not a new problem and it is not a simple problem.
But, Australia does have a problem.
While much has changed over the years, too much has stayed the same.
There is still an attitude, a culture that excuses, justifies, ignores or condones gender inequality that drives, ultimately, violence against women.
And that is on all of us. Every Australian has a responsibility. I as Prime Minister have a responsibility. I, as an Australian, have a responsibility.
Parents, schools, sports clubs, the media. Every person, every company, every government has a responsibility.
And we have to do better and strive to be better.
I don’t believe we can talk about women’s safety without talking about men.
About the way some men think they own women.
About the way women are subjected to disrespect, coercion and violence.
This must continue to change.
Because if not now, when?
This is a call to action and a call for change. Every Australian has a part to play in making Australia safe for every woman.
Because while governments, together with all of you here today, will continue to develop and deliver programs and policies, and indeed a National Plan for the next decade, there will be many, many moments in between.
And it is in these moments that every Australian can be making their change.
Because every day counts.
Because every nine days a woman is murdered by her current or former partner in Australia.
One in four women experience physical or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner.
One in four.
That is a national shame.
And this year, we’ve seen the national conversation focus again on women’s safety and addressing all forms of violence against women, including sexual violence and harassment.
I’ve received hundreds of letters and emails from women sharing with me their stories about the violence, including sexual assaults that they have personally suffered, or sharing the stories of family and friends.
Letters from women sharing some of the most anguished and personal experiences of their lives.
Sometimes sharing things they had scarcely shared with anyone ever before.
I want to thank them all for sharing their stories bravely with me. And I want to thank them for trusting me with their stories.
And at this point, as Minister Ruston has said, I want to emphasise that some of the material I am about to share, and will be shared at this summit, is very confronting. Minister Ruston mentioned the support services available throughout the summit and I urge you to use them if you need to.
There was a handwritten letter from Queensland - it came in a small envelope, and it was written on lined A4 paper, in cursive script, running writing, finishing with this shocking reflection –
“I was raped at 14, I’m now 74, and still suffering.”
Sixty years. Sixty years - and not enough has changed.
Another woman wrote - this time from NSW - about the harassment and assault she suffered from a work colleague.
“It may sound shocking but at the time in 1989 I never ever thought to report this event to the police.”
Another woman described going to court many years ago - a case where a number of her attackers were eventually found guilty - and she said this of the process:
“I was put on trial, not the guys who raped me.”
And describing the visceral nature of the case and its re-traumatisation, she added: “If you really want to protect women like you say, make it so that women don’t have to sit in a witness stand two feet away from their attackers and give evidence.”
The letters and emails reflected on the anguish and life-long burden of assaults at work, at school, at uni, on a sports team.
And at home, where they should have been safer than anywhere else in the world.
Assaults that happened at any and every age.
Trauma compounded by silence.
Through all the letters and emails, I felt that rage, the dread, and the frustration that our culture was not changing.
And there was something more.
It was quieter. There was fatigue.
One letter explained,
“I’m exhausted just thinking about these things. I’m exhausted making, what is now automatic adjustments to my behaviour, I’m exhausted having to try to explain why I am exhausted. I am so sick and tired of being scared.”
Something I have been pondering even more after reading these letters is this:
In various ways, we have become a more tolerant and enlightened society over recent decades. That’s true.
And yet … Australian women still don’t feel safe, and indeed they’re not safe.
Every day, they are forced to change their own behaviours, because men won’t.
Holding their keys like a weapon… going for their run before it gets dark…having to say to their friends ‘message me when you get home’ … ignoring innuendo and putting up with the boys’ clubs.
The foundation of respect for women in Australian society is not what it should be. All of us - but Australian men in particular - carry both private obligations and public duties to build those foundations, every day.
And so to all who wrote to me - again I say thank you.
The torrent of stories and experiences… the collective anger and frustration of women… the outrage in the wider community…
All of this is pushing us forward.
Compelling us to examine what’s happening.
And is driving change.
Change will continue to require action on all fronts – prevention, early intervention, support and recovery.
And at this Summit, you’ll be joined by members of the government, Ministers, senators and MPs. And you’ll be joined by State and Territory Governments.
Governments of all different political persuasions, coming together, as they should, in an a-partisan way, to develop what I hope will be another bipartisan National Plan.
Listening. Learning. And informing our actions, so that we can continue to build on the existing National Plan. And build on the many commitments that were made in our Budgets.
Meaningful initiatives, backed by funding to make a difference in homes, schools, workplaces, communities, across our nation.
In March, Senator Marise Payne and I launched the Cabinet Women’s Taskforce which we co-chair, and which has women’s safety and economic security at its very heart.
In April, we responded to the Respect@Work Report and last week, we passed legislation to implement our response to that Report.
More than $64 million was committed in the 2021-22 Budget to support the implementation of the Roadmap, including additional legal assistance for specialist lawyers with workplace and discrimination law expertise.
And on 6 August, National Cabinet considered States and Territory responses to the Report, that I called for.
Our response to the Respect@Work Inquiry, led by Sex Discimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, is about creating a new culture of respectful behaviour in Australian workplaces. It’s based on values we all believe in, that unite us: respect, dignity, choice, equality of opportunity and justice.
Preventing and addressing sexual harassment in the workplace is central to boosting women’s economic participation.
The May Budget delivered a $3.4 billion Women’s Budget Statement.
With initiatives supporting women’s economic security, workforce participation, health and safety.
It contained $1.1 billion in a Women’s Safety Package, which is the single largest announcement of funding for women’s safety of any federal Government at any time and I commend Minister Ruston for her work on that.
Now, this includes:
A two year trial to provide immediate financial assistance of up to $5,000 to help women leave violent relationships and rebuild their lives;
To continuing phase three of the ‘Stop it at the Start’ advertising campaign to change behaviours and delivering a fourth phase of the campaign; and
Up to $260 million for a new National Partnership Agreement with the states and territories to expand the funding of frontline family, domestic and sexual violence support services, contingent on co-funding from the states. Now, this builds on the $130 million already provided to state and territory governments in 2020 to help support crisis accommodation, frontline services and perpetrator intervention programs as they respond to the pandemic.
And as Minister Ruston, our Minister for Women’s Safety, and Minister Payne, our Minister for Women, my co-chair of the Taskforce, have said, this is a “down-payment” only on the next National Plan.
It is also important that this Plan is connected and integrated with other national strategies so that the sum of our collective efforts is greater than the parts.
For example, in August this year I launched the Commonwealth Closing the Gap Implementation plan. And I thank again Pat Turner for her great leadership and partnership. This plan is a direct result of the National Partnership Agreement I signed with the Coalition of Peaks.
The CTG Agreement sees us working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives, not only to reduce family and domestic violence by 50 per cent by 2031 as we progress towards zero, but on all the priorities identified in the National Agreement, identified by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should rightfully determine the best way to Close the Gap in our work together on this key issue. And that is what we are doing.
What comes next? That’s in all our hands.
All of us here today will be among the architects of the next National Plan.
And I agree with those of you who said in the roundtables last week that ‘we can’t arrest our way out’ of the problem of violence against women.
I agree that we absolutely must re-double our efforts to prevent violence against women.
As Our Watch reminds us – violence against women is preventable. And we can and must change the story.
But we must also address the fact that too many find it too difficult to seek justice. This is frustrating.
As mentioned, one of the critical issues that I saw in reading and replying to all of those letters and emails that I referred to earlier was the intolerable interactions women have been having with the justice system.
And that’s why, in this year’s Women’s Budget Statement, we very deliberately set aside funding to strengthen criminal justice responses to sexual assault, sexual harassment and coercive control. And I thank the Attorney, Minister Cash, for her great work in pulling that together with Minister Ruston.
With funding of $4.7 million, the Attorney General has already commenced a work program in partnership with States and Territories to achieve this.
This will focus not simply on increasing the rates of conviction, but supporting the needs of traumatised victim survivors and increasing consistency of criminal justice responses to sexual assault.
It will examine ways to make perpetrators accountable, while at the same time supporting victim survivors through this very difficult process.
This work will also look at improving definitions around coercive control and ways to ensure the justice system is less traumatic for women when they seek justice.
This must include building capability in the criminal justice system to better support victim survivors of sexual assault, as well as striving for consistent outcomes in the prosecution of sexual assault offences.
Women should not feel like they are on trial, when in fact, it's someone else facing the courts.
I am determined that we work together to improve outcomes and protections for victim survivors of violence, including sexual assault, in the justice system.
The combined effort of the existing National Plan to reduce violence against women and children is a testament to all governments’ long-term, a-partisan commitment to working together.
And it is one we seek to emulate in an even more ambitious way as we develop the next National Plan to end violence against women and children.
This recognises that while we have a massive challenge ahead, there is no acceptable level of violence.
As I said earlier, there is no excuse … And sorry doesn’t cut it.
The work on coercive control reminds us that violence against women takes so many forms, it manifests in many ways and that our understanding of it evolves and grows so we can respond more effectively.
We are also working across governments to develop a common national understanding of coercive control and its impacts in order to build awareness, which helps inform that prevention and early intervention activity.
Coercive control has, all too sadly, become very prominent in our minds in recent years. Our understanding of violence – the physical and non-physical tactics – is better than when the existing National Plan was developed.
So I look forward to hearing the outcomes of the “Alter the course” panel discussion this afternoon around “perpetrator interventions, coercive control and early intervention”. There’s much work to be done.
While the next National Plan will maintain a focus on prevention, early intervention and on vital crisis support, it must also address the anguish and burden of undisclosed and unresolved trauma.
As the stories I recounted to you remind us, trauma stays with us. The next National Plan must go a step further. To not only prevent, intervene, and provide support in times of crisis - but go well beyond that.
It must look to recovery. Over years, decades, sixty years as we heard, and more.
Through this summit, we can help to identify ways to better support victim survivors as they rebuild their lives. As they physically, mentally and emotionally address the trauma.
As they build new lives by, for example, developing new skills for future employment and steps to achieve financial security and independence. Recovery is so important as women reimagine their future, and the future for their children of which they’re so passionate.
Seeking justice must not add to the trauma. And victim survivors must be supported to work through their trauma sooner, guided by their own goals.
So in closing …
We come to this Summit with an open mind, an ambitious spirit, encapsulated by the target to end - not reduce, but end - violence against women and children. That’s our goal.
Our country must continue to change.
And there is much we must continue to do.
This is everybody’s business – men have a large part to play, as do families, friends, businesses, sporting organisations, media, education providers, community organisations, prime ministers.
I want all women, every girl, in this nation to live without fear. That’s liberty.
I want their humanity, their dignity, their innate worth as a human being and the freedoms to which they’re entitled, to be respected.
I want all women and girls to walk in this world, our nation, confident that they are safe to live the life they want to live. That they choose to live.
I know everyone joining us for this Summit wants the same thing.
We will go much further, you know, when we can all appreciate that we are all, from whatever place we are coming from to this Summit, earnestly trying to achieve that same goal. This is what we share.
This Summit recognises that we have all come here together for the same purpose, a shared purpose, with a shared determination.
So many have come to this Summit with their own experiences. Whether that be the brutality they have suffered, or the selfless service they have been engaged in for so long to help and protect and restore those who have suffered, and their frustration and their disappointment that they have endured in offering that selfless service. We respect and acknowledge that perspective. It is so important. It helps us understand the way forward.
And then there are others of us who have come here with open ears and open hearts. To learn from your experiences and make the changes we need to make for the better.
So let us gather together in that sense of unity. In that sense of shared respect for eachother for what has brought us all to the table. Acknowledging that’s why we’re each here.
Let us use this good faith as the basis for our discussions, and recognise and allow that good faith that has brought us together to provide the opportunity we are all seeking to move this forward through our participation in this Summit.
And enable us to focus on what we need to do.
So, over these two days, and indeed the round tables before, we want to hear from you: your perspectives.
I want to hear from you, your perspectives, your ideas, your wisdom, for how we go forward on this together because with your help we can create the national plan that sets a course for a country and a culture of Australians that knows not violence in the future, one that honours respect - that is our task. I look forward to the days ahead.
I want to thank everyone for their patient listening today.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
3 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, good afternoon everyone. I'm joined by the Minister for Health and Aged Care and the Chief Medical Officer. Again, some very difficult news in New South Wales today and our sincere condolences and sympathies to the families of those who have lost their lives in the COVID pandemic. And, so, on a difficult day like this, it’s important to bring hope. And, I can assure you, there is hope. There are four million reasons to be hopeful today, because the Government has been able to secure, with the Government of the United Kingdom, a Pfizer swap deal which will see four million doses of Pfizer come to Australia this month. The plane’s on the tarmac now. It will be leaving tomorrow, and those doses will be coming over the course of the next few weeks, which will see us double the Pfizer doses that we have during September. This means, from Downing Street to Down Under, we are doubling down on what the Pfizer doses are, here in Australia, this month. This will enable us to bring forward significantly the opportunity for Australia to open up again under the national plan. The bring forward of these doses, I think, should be a great cause for hope right around the country.
The doses will be distributed across the states and territories on a per capita basis, so they can all get on with it. Whether it’s in the GP clinics with the GPs, or in the state-based hubs, they will be able to move forward and see these doses get into arms and get Australians back to where we want to be, living with this virus, as soon as we possibly can.
I want to thank very, very much Prime Minister Johnson, who, he and I started discussing this sometime ago. I want to thank him for his personal commitment to this, and his great friendship with Australia. I want to thank also Health Minister Sajid Javid, who I have known for some time, and his coming into that portfolio in recent times and the ability to progress this with Greg Hunt, our Minister, and I want to thank Greg and all of his team. There's been some very late nights of discussions, negotiations, legal work that has been taking place, particularly over the course of the past week, to bring this to conclusion, but it has been the real commitment to Australia from Prime Minister Johnson and Minister Javid that has seen this through.
Can I thank Minister Payne as well for her great work on all of this, as indeed with the Singapore arrangement and the Polish arrangement. DFAT have really been earning their keep when it comes to delivering on these arrangements. Our High Commissioner George Brandis, who I’ve been in regular contact with, as has the Health Minister and indeed the Secretary of Health Brendan Murphy. And, that has been an extraordinary cooperative arrangement that has saw this come to bear over the course of these many weeks we’ve been seeking to secure this arrangement.
So, when you add, when you put it together, the extra four million from the UK brought forward, the extra 500,000 we were able to announce earlier this week, the one million and more that has come from Poland, all of this - I said I would leave no stone unturned, and I can tell you I've been turning over some stones in recent times to ensure that we can progress the vaccination program as quickly as we possibly can. And, it will now build on what is a very strong performance. We are now at the point where 80 per cent of over 50s have had their first dose; 80 per cent of over 50s, drawing through to a second dose in the weeks that are ahead. 20.3 million doses now having been delivered. More than 10 million of those have been AstraZeneca, I want to stress. And, I want to continue to encourage everyone to keep going and getting their AstraZeneca jabs, particularly those who are over the age of 60 - that is the recommended vaccine for over 60s, and so I want to encourage you to go and get your second dose as well. And, let's keep this going, Australia, because at these rates we are really going to be able to hit the marks that we all want to hit in the weeks and months that are ahead.
I want to thank the states for their support for the national plan that this vaccination program underpins. The Victorian Government, the New South Wales Government, Tasmanian Government - I was speaking to Premier Gutwein this morning and I can tell you he’s feeling much better and he’s coming back to work now and recovered from his health issues earlier throughout the course of this week, and while Peter won't be with us this afternoon, we’ve had a good discussion through the issues that’ll come up at National Cabinet later today. I also want to thank the South Australian Government as well, where we’re doing the home-based quarantine trial.
We’ll continue to work with all the states on the plan that we’ve agreed to ensure that Australians can have hope in the future, and these four million doses of hope today I think will only give us further encouragement. And, this afternoon at National Cabinet we will have the opportunity to discuss through a number of measures. We will talk further through, with Professor McVernon, the continued sensitivity analysis that she conducts, and there will be opportunity for all premiers and chief ministers, as there has been now on several occasions, to continue to work through that analysis and advice that has come from the Doherty Institute and to ensure that they fully understand it, and that they fully understand the various things that need to be managed as we move in to Phase B and Phase C of the plan.
We’ll be talking through, as as always, where we think we will be able to be on public health social measures when we move in Phase B and Phase C - there’s still work to be done there. So, this afternoon’s discussion on that will be important.
The other issue that of course we’ll be talking about is is Professor Murphy's, and by the way, congratulations father of the year Professor Murphy. I think he’s often been seen as the father figure in many ways from this platform - I hope I haven't broken some secret here. But, anyway, if I have, there you go. Congratulations, congratulations Professor Murphy, father of the year. And, Jenny said to say congratulations too, I haven’t been able to pass that on to you yet. But, this afternoon, he’s doing very important work on the hospital systems and public health systems capacities right across the states and territories. This has been being done for months, but now, with the benefit of the Doherty work and looking at the peak demands that have come on our system, the flexibility that we’ll need, how resources can be moved, workforce managed, and so on. That was a key item of discussion between myself and Premiers Andrews and Berejiklian this week, where obviously the pressure is coming most soon, in terms of the outbreak in both of those states, as we’re moving into Phase B and Phase C.
I’ll come back to my discussion with President Biden, after others have spoken, but we did have a very warm and friendly conversation today and it was important, particularly this week in marking the 70th anniversary of ANZUS, but also to talk through the very important issues of next steps in Afghanistan and other issues here in the Indo-Pacific. But, with that, I’ll pass you on to the Health Minister, and congratulations Greg.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks very much to the PM and Professor Kelly. These are four million doses of hope for Australians, and they build on the 500,000 that we were able to announce earlier in the week from Singapore, and the million from Poland, and very critically, the three million doses that Pfizer was able to bring forward from the final quarter to the third quarter, which has underpinned the massive acceleration that we’ve seen during July and in particular August.
What does it mean for Australia? It really means what we've been saying in the last week, that the burden and balance of vaccination in Australia will have moved forward two months, from October and November to August and September. This month, all up, there’ll be well over 10 million doses available. As the PM says, there’s more than nine million Pfizer that are available. A million Moderna in the last two weeks of the month on the current plan and, of course, the AstraZeneca, which is still seeing very significant numbers and we’re really pleased with that. So, this means that every Australian, every Australian will be able to come forward as early as possible to be vaccinated if they haven’t yet.
And, at this point in time, another 301,000 yesterday and now over 20.33 million - so, basically 20 million and one third - and very significantly, as the PM said, we've passed that mark of over 80 per cent of everybody beyond 50 plus having had at least a first vaccination. And, that tells the country we can do this. And, if you think of this, 80.3 per cent of over 50s, 84.5 per cent of over 60s, 88.5 per cent of over 70s - and that's a really important set of milestones and outcomes that are protecting individuals.
The final thing I want to mention is that we now have approximately 1.8 million doses to be delivered to get to the national 70 per cent mark, and 3.8 million doses to be delivered to get to the national 80 per cent mark for first doses. And, once we've got those people through the door, they’ll come back, and that's what's critical. And, so, at a rate now of over 1.9 million doses a week, about 1.94 million on the seven day average, we are within sight. And, so, if you are eligible, if you haven’t been vaccinated, this is your chance.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Professor Kelly.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, COMMONWEALTH CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you PM, thank you, Minister. So, obviously as Chief Medical Officer I’m absolutely delighted at this news. Vaccination is the key for us to move forward with the national plan and to get people protected, and that's the whole population will be benefiting from those vaccines - whether they’re going directly into people's arms or the vaccine being, working in an indirect protection to those who can’t get vaccinated, for example, children under the age of 12. Every time someone gets vaccinated over the next few weeks, that will increase the protection for the entire community. That's what the Doherty modelling shows very clearly. They have included the whole community in their outcomes and outputs of that modelling, and, so, those under 12s will be protected by their older siblings when they start in a couple of weeks of being eligible for vaccination. They will be protected by their parents getting vaccinated, by their grandparents getting vaccinated, by their teachers getting vaccinated, by all of us getting vaccinated, and that's a key point to make.
There will be more discussion, of course, about the Doherty modelling this afternoon at National Cabinet. They have finished, as the PM has said, that sensitivity analysis and asking, and answering specific questions that premiers have asked and chief ministers have asked of that modelling. And, that's really the way forward into those next phases of the plan. We’ll also be talking about the other elements that are part of the plan, which is that testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine, and how that may evolve as we learn to live with COVID, as well as the public health and social measures. So, I’ll leave it there, PM.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what’s your response to Premier Palaszczuk’s claim, two claims, that if there’s an outbreak with 70 per cent vaccination, that could lead to 2,200 deaths a month, and her separate claim that children under twelve will be vulnerable if, under the national plan. What’s your response to that? Is she right? And, do you agree with Minister Hunt that these claims have undermined public confidence?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think that would be a misreading of the Doherty analysis, and I think there’ll be a good opportunity for her to pursue that with the, with Professor McVernon today. But, I'm happy to ask Professor Kelly to add further on that.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] misread the Doherty analysis?
PRIME MINISTER: That is, that is not my reading of the Doherty analysis at all, I mean, because what that indicates is a scenario where there is not ongoing vaccination, there are no, virtually no public health social measures in place, and that's not what the national plan provides for. I mean, there are a range of scenarios that are presented, and as you follow the national plan what you do is you reduce those outcomes - down quite significantly to much lower levels. And, so, you know, the worst-case scenario is not the plan. That’s not the plan. What is the plan is the better case scenario, which sees you take actions, which has always been part of the national plan. It isn't just vaccination, public health social measures - the sort of things like distancing and things like that, washing your hands, all the other - that doesn't stop when we hit 70 per cent. People don't stop getting vaccinated when you hit 70 per cent or at 80 per cent. It keeps going up and you keep having other sensible, common sense precautions in place. Now, if you do none of those things, well, of course you put, you put the community at great risk. But, that's not what the national plan suggests, and to suggest that that’s what the national plan is would be a complete misreading of that. But, Professor Kelly.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, COMMONWEALTH CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So, I think, the Doherty Institute, and when we've spoken about that modelling project all along, it has been at a high-level national picture. It has shown the effectiveness of vaccination, testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine, and public health and social measures. And, that has been done. The sensitivity analysis that will be shared today takes the specific example - which wasn’t there at the time of the first lot of modelling - which is what we're seeing in New South Wales with large numbers of cases. And, so, that's what will be discussed today. The second thing I’ll say about children is, and I made this point yesterday, so of the almost 4,000 children under the age of 12 that have developed COVID this year, only 3.5 per cent of those have been in hospital, and most of those have been for social reasons, not because they’re seriously ill. And, very, very small numbers - less than one in 1,000 - have ended up in ICU, which is terribly upsetting and concerning, and I'm a parent and I understand that. I’m not father of the year, that’s someone else, but I, but, you know, we all feel for our children, of course. But, the reality is that most of the children, in fact, most of the cases we’re seeing in New South Wales are minor illness. They are asymptomatic or mild illness. We’ve got a proportion that are in hospital in ICU, but that’s definitely more in the adult population than children. And, just, the other point I made about vaccination - jabs in arms give direct protection to the person that has the jabs in arms, but every jab in the arm also gives indirect protection to the whole population, including and specifically children.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, given we’re getting more than 10 million doses of vaccines this month, given the fairly consistent rate of vaccination that we’re seeing every day, at what point will we reach 70 per cent double dose, and at what point will we also be able to offer people at any age whatever vaccine they want, not just AstraZeneca or not just Pfizer?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that day gets closer every day, and there’ll be a range of people who will give their forecast on all of this and I'm not about to do that. But, what I do know is that the rates of vaccination that we’re seeing means that we're getting closer to that every single day, and that's what's important. See, we haven’t set a day - there’s no magic in a day, there’s no health protection in a day. What there is protection in is having reached a level of vaccination in the community, double dose at 70 per cent, unchanged by the work of Doherty, and at 80 per cent, and then combining that with the appropriate, well-calibrated social measures and the testing and tracing that is done in those environments, to give that broader protection. That's where the protection is. And, so, we're getting closer and closer to that day.
JOURNALIST: But, you must have an idea when that will be, roughly?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course we do. But, what matters is not losing sight of achieving that mark, and I believe it's getting closer. And, initial estimates which hadn’t seen us doing it till very late in this year obviously were, I think we’re going to get to it a lot closer than that, but we’ll only get there if people keep going and getting vaccinated. And, so, we cannot take off any sense of urgency to keep pressing towards that, and I want to encourage people, if you’re booked for AstraZeneca today, go and get it. The best dose you can get today is the dose you can get today. And, so, I’d encourage people to go and do that today. If your second dose is booked, go and get that dose - whether it’s AstraZeneca or Pfizer or what’s available to you today, that’s the dose that you need to get to protect you, your family and to get Australia to opening up again.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on hospitals, Nat Cab today is discussing hospital capacity. Western Australia, which has no COVID cases, has had to cancel all non-urgent elective surgeries for this month, indicating the public health system there is already struggling. What does that tell you about the preparedness of every state for a COVID outbreak? And, just separately, the phone call with Joe Biden, President Biden has indicated you have committed to a face-to-face meeting with him as part of the Quad. Can you give us more details about that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me deal with that one first, and Paul or Greg you might want to speak to the hospital system capacity. Again, a very warm conversation and I'm looking forward to travelling to Washington, as they said in Fall, when the Quad meeting will take place. We have some working dates around that, but there’s still some confirmations that need to occur. And, the Quad, as you know, is a very important gathering of the United States, India, ourselves and Japan, and we’re looking forward to that first face-to-face meeting of the Quad to go across the broad range of initiatives we’re working on. Of course, there’s the defence and security issues, but the importance of the programs we announced rolling out COVID vaccine support into the region, the economic development initiatives that we’re seeking to pursue, whether it’s down in the Mekong region or elsewhere that we’re partnering on. Importantly, looking at the critical supply chains and critical technologies that we’re working on together.
The Quad's agenda is incredibly important for the security of the Indo-Pacific and we had the opportunity today to talk of course about what happened in Afghanistan - for me to be able to thank the President and the people of the United States for their partnership in assisting our evacuation of over 4,100 people from Kabul. And, the 13 United States soldiers who lost their lives assisting us in that effort, and to extend our sympathies and condolences to their families. The President after our call was actually going to meet, I understand, with some of those who were injured in those attacks, and I asked him to pass on our thanks to them and their families. The next stage, of course, with Afghanistan is the humanitarian effort and for us to be able to take people through official humanitarian channels, and we discussed that, about how we can be working together to achieve what we want to continue to achieve to provide people with that opportunity, who are in Afghanistan, to take up those humanitarian pathways, and to ensure the cooperation of the Taliban regime to facilitate that, and we expect them to do that. The world is watching the Taliban and we are expecting them to hold to what they have said to our partners and allies in the United States to facilitate that safe movement of their own people who are seeking to take up those humanitarian pathways. So, that was an important part of our discussion.
But, equally, moving forward to the next Quad meeting, I think it demonstrates a very strong focus from the United States on the Indo-Pacific region, and Australia was referred to in our discussion today as a bedrock partner, a bedrock partner in the region. And, the President was very grateful for Australia's 20 years of support and assistance, standing with our American partners and many others in those very difficult efforts over those 20 years in Afghanistan, and he was very appreciative of it and all who served and all the families who served, and in particularly the 41 Australians who fell in that service. So, we thank him for that.
They’re of course going through their own domestic challenges now, particularly in relation to the hurricane and the floods which are impacting there in the United States, and we expressed our sympathies with him on those issues.
So, we have quite a large agenda with the United States. So, there’ll be certainly President, there will be a lot for President Biden and I to talk about when we have that face-to-face meeting in the White House this year.
On the hospitals, I’ll get Greg speak to that.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Sure. We have confidence in all of the states and territories' preparedness. We started this in February 2020 and Brendan Murphy and Paul Kelly have overseen that national program, and all of the states and territories have stepped up. That included the acquisition of the ventilators to increase the national ventilation capacity from 2,000 to 7,500 beds, the training of staff to do that, the upskilling of nurses to do that, the provision of PPE, the acquisition of stocks in the national medical supply, and then perhaps underpinning it, you know, for the most difficult and challenging of times, there is the private hospitals viability guarantee, which adds 57,000 nurses, 100,000 staff and 30,000 beds and-. So, all of the states and territories are capable of stepping up. There’s always the capacity for additional investment at state level. I note that we have increased by 72 per cent our investment in Western Australian hospitals, they’ve increased by 18, so we would encourage and support them to move towards that investment at our level. And, then, finally I just note, you, we have mentioned Brendan Murphy. I particularly want to thank the team at Health - Brendan Murphy, Lisa Schofield, Kylie Wright and all of the others that have helped literally work through the night to get this arrangement.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the UK deal, you said you've been working on this for quite some time, what got it over the line? Why are they sending us so many doses and when do we have to give them back? And, did you ask President Biden for any vaccine doses in your call with him today?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I won't comment on I mean, I've gone through the issues that I've raised with President Biden today, the call today was very focused on the issues of Afghanistan, the ANZUS alliance, the forthcoming Quad meeting and our forthcoming bilateral meetings. Of course, there are meetings coming up in the United States between the Defence and Foreign Ministers as well. Those AUSMIN meetings have a quite a lead time going into them and the matters we're discussing there.
Look, at the end of the day, this is a good deal for Britain and it's a good deal for Australia and it's a good deal because it makes the most of the doses that they have now, which we need and the doses that we'll have later that they will need. And so this supports their programme when it comes to boosters and other things of that nature. It supports our programme now. So this is just a good deal and it's a good deal between mates. It's a good deal that's been secured because of the very strong relationship that exists obviously at a prime ministerial level, but also at a ministerial level as well. There is very strong support for the relationship with Australia in the United Kingdom. Saw that firsthand, of course, on many occasions. But when I was recently in Downing Street in the United Kingdom and the issues we worked through there with the free trade agreement and on many other topics. So it's a good deal between mates. It works for both of us. And it means we can double down on what our Pfizer capacity is this month, which brings forward the programme, which is great news of hope for people right around the country.
JOURNALIST: When do you have to send them back?
PRIME MINISTER: December.
JOURNALIST: Within remote indigenous communities, we're seeing vaccination rates as low as 7 percent. Given this, does a threshold, a target needs to be set for our First Nation Australians? Pat Turner said [inaudible] percent. If we have a national target, shouldn't we be setting a target for our most vulnerable too?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Greg and Paul both might want to comment on this, but I want to stress within the National Plan, there is an acknowledgement of the need to continue to provide targeted initiatives for most vulnerable communities and obviously indigenous communities are the most vulnerable and that is become a key issue, particularly in the Northern Territory, where it's and that is such a dominant population within the Northern Territory. And that is something Chief Minister Gunner has been very consistent in raising not just recently, but over the entire course of the pandemic. So there is an acknowledgement of the need that some parts of the community are going to move more quickly than others when you're having vaccinations. And that means not just for indigenous communities, but as I said in Parliament this week, there are many disadvantaged communities. There's the homeless community. There are those who have other challenges, life challenges. There are those who, drug using communities, things like this. There are many. And we've seen that here in the ACT with the nature of the outbreak here, there needs to be an ongoing plan for dealing with disadvantaged communities post 70 and 80 per cent vaccination because they tend to be the less vaccinated. And we've seen that not just here, but we're seeing overseas as well. And so that isn't just a plan to get to 70 and 80 per cent. That will continue to be a challenge for all of us post 70 and 80 per cent into the future. And so that is another matter which the Department of Health and the Minister and I have been progressing. And Professor Murphy. And it's something we need to progress together with all the states and territories. And it already has been in so many respects. So, yes, I agree with Pat that we need to get those vaccination levels in our indigenous communities as high as possible, as high as possible. But at the same time, that does not disable us from the whole community being able to move forward under the National Plan. And the National Plan appreciates that. But, Greg?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Yes. Just briefly, we're on the cusp of 40 per cent indigenous vaccination around Australia. One of the things that we were reviewing this week, the progress, was the information provided that that 99 per cent of people living in remote Australia have had access to vaccines. And so the real point which Ken Wyatt has made and many others, such as Pat Turner, is that we need to boost confidence. And that was what we discussed last night with all of the state and territory health ministers. They were great. They're really on board with this notion of community by community support, working with the elders. Now, we've been doing this all along, but obviously with the outbreak in western New South Wales, there's been a change in sentiment. There's been a boost in desire. And so that information, whether it's in remote or in urban areas, is something that we're all focused on. So those specific strategies. So the access has been there. Now it's about ensuring that there's a confidence for the uptake. I might just pass to Paul on this because this is actually his speciality.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, COMMONWEALTH CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks, Minister. Thanks, PM. It's absolutely crucial, I think, for the first point is we've had from the very, very first week, I still remember Dawn Casey and Dr. Lucas de Toca from the department forming a committee, a national committee with input from indigenous leadership as well as the community controlled sector, as well as states and territories and the Commonwealth, all agencies in the Commonwealth to make sure that we were protecting our most vulnerable Australians, particularly those indigenous communities, whether they are in the urban or the rural and remote and very remote settings. So that's been there all along. There's been a plan, there's been great cooperation and so forth. As the Minister has said, this has been very focused in recent weeks because of the situation in western and far western New South Wales. I just want to just reiterate a point the Minister just made there about hesitancy. Access, yes, that's our responsibility. We have to make that, make sure that everyone can get the jab in the arm wherever they are. And that's happening. But there is hesitancy. Not everywhere. Some communities, Maningrida, a place I know well up in the Northern Territory, they broke a record for the number of vaccines they had and the coverage of a community in a single day from a primary care outreach a few weeks ago. Other places, there is incredible mistrust of the vaccine that all of the things where we have we have heard of the miscommunication and the poor communication about vaccines, that they're dangerous and that it's a conspiracy. All of those things are playing out in the most remote communities. And it's the tragedy. These are the people that would absolutely and most benefit from the vaccination programme.
JOURNALIST: What are you doing about the misinformation that's been spread by some [inaudible]?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, COMMONWEALTH CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Yeah, and Pat was talking about this the other night, too, so, yes, we absolutely need to work on that. In Wilcannia, for example, our AUSMAT team has been going door to door and having those conversations directly with people and offering the vaccine. But there is a range of other other materials that we're working through with the input from our indigenous leaders as well.
PRIME MINISTER: It needs to be done direct with indigenous leaders and elders. And that's what Minister Wyatt in particular has been pursuing. But it's difficult. It's challenging. COVID is not easy. It doesn't have simple solutions. Not everything happens the way you'd like it to. And so you've got to adjust. You've got to adapt. You've got to go and get four million more doses. You've got to go and adjust your plans. And in the indigenous communities, it's really tough and with a lot more work to do, but we're very committed to achieving it. Mark.
JOURNALIST: PM, does this deal with the UK, get us over this supply hump or do you need to negotiate further deals to meet the demand? And secondly if I can, there's some Australians who are stuck on the south of New Zealand being told where there's no community transmission, have been told they can't come back into Australia, even to go to hotel quarantine. Why is that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not familiar with the case you're referring to, Mark, so I'm not in a position to make any comment on it as to whether it, I'm not suggesting you're putting something forward that's not true, I just don't have, I have no knowledge of that case. But happy to take that on.
In terms of additional doses. Well, yeah, I'm up for them where they could be secured. And so say I'll continue to pursue those issues. But today's four million extra doses, when you combine it with the half a million also with Singapore, that doubles what we have for Pfizer this month. And that means we are now in a position and this month was a critical month to secure this because in October it surges to 11, I think, from memory 11 million doses in October and again in November. So we had those strong supplies in those months. And that's why getting it this month was so important and why, frankly, we've been so focused. And so that's why I'm very appreciative of the speed at which Boris and Sajid was able to to move ahead and get it through their systems. I also thank Albert Bourla at Pfizer to who's worked closely with us on both arrangements, both with Singapore and with the UK arrangement. But this really does break the back of it, I think it's fair to say.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there are predictions that cases in New South Wales will peak in late September at over 3,500. I understand these are difficult conversations to have with the Australian public, but you would have been in receipt of modelling that will make some predictions, not just about the peak, but obviously when vaccines will actually flatten that peak and start to bring it down. Those numbers are important because, of course, they also inform ICU admissions to some extent.
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
JOURNALIST: What is the latest information you have at what the range of cases will be at the peak in New South Wales? When will that occur and how many people do you think are likely to end up in ICU?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, these numbers are changing. That's the first thing. Paul's best placed to answer that question, because he is the professional in this space. In the discussions I had with the Chief Health Officer in New South Wales and the Premier earlier this week about those very topics, issues within the ICU, these are obviously issues being managed directly by the New South Wales Government. They run their own hospital system and very well. And so what we will be doing in the next phase, once we've worked through these further discussions with the states and territories, you'll recall that we had the briefing with Professor McVernon, went through all of those types of numbers. I intend for that to occur again.
JOURNALIST: But what's the number right now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, when when we're in a position to finalise those numbers and how it appears in the modelling, what I'm telling you is just like last time, we will come and do a full briefing with Professor McVernon and it will be answered by the modelling when it has been.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?
JOURNALIST: Can't you give us a ball-park right now?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't think that would be wise.
JOURNALIST: Why not?
PRIME MINISTER: Because I'm not going to go out and talk about numbers which are not yet finalised and are changing on an almost daily basis. Where we're heading is to live with the virus like any other infectious disease. And the purpose of what we're doing, the vaccinations, the testing and the isolation measures that are in place, in phase B and C of the programme, the other ongoing low level restrictions that are needed to support keeping those cases, but more importantly, which is the focus is on phase B and C, those hospitalisation rates down. All of that is what gets us to where we want to be. And so we can expect COVID to have an impact in the community like other infectious diseases. And so all of that work is being done. But as we see each and every day, you've seen the cases, I think, in Victoria today. I mean, this is changing on a daily basis. But what doesn't change is what we have to do. What we have to do is continue to keep up these record rates of vaccination. What we have to do is continue to prepare for in phase B and C, the pressures that will come on the public hospitals and public health systems. What we have to do is get home quarantine operational and at scale. So when we get to phase B and C, people can travel again, they can move around the country. Australia can be connected again and connected with the world. People can attend weddings. People can go and have household gatherings and birthday parties. And sadly, they'll have funerals, but people will be able to attend them. Worshippers can go back to church, picnics can take place in bigger numbers. All of this can happen again if we keep doing all those things. The question, though, about what the numbers are, they change every day. But what doesn't change is what we have to do. And that's exactly what we all need to focus on. But, Paul, did you want to add anything further?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, COMMONWEALTH CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Only to say that we've said before that the numbers are one thing, but it's the preparation of the health system and and how it can cope with numbers as projected as the important component and the very key way that we have, the tool we have to to control those numbers and to decrease those numbers and to flatten the curve is the one we didn't have last year, which is vaccination. So another four million of those this month is going to really help.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned travel before. In your view, why is it necessary to go to Washington for the Quad Summit in person? Will you go to COP26 in Glasgow in person? And can I ask you your response to the Taliban spokesperson saying 41 Australian soldiers died in vain?
PRIME MINISTER: That's sickening and it's untrue. But I'm not surprised about a dishonourable statement from the Taliban. That's what I'd say about that. And that they should know that the world is watching them and they expect them to live up to the statements that they've made. And as we continue to seek to have people brought to this country to start a new home for themselves and their families and so many others in the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom and many other partners, we would expect them to honour those things. And I think those sorts of comments dishonour that trust. And trust matters. And we'll be seeking to ensure in everything that we can do to ensure that they seek to establish that trust, because at this stage the account is in deficit when it comes to any trust you could put in the Taliban.
On the other matters. I mean, people will see very clearly why it is important for me to be in Washington for those meetings. That will become very apparent when we meet in Washington, when that opportunity is confirmed about when that is precisely happening. But we will definitely be going to Washington. On other matters for travel, for the balance of the year, well we haven't made any decisions on those matters yet. I mean, it has to do with many things, including quarantine, Parliament when it's sitting, all of those issues. And so at this stage, as it was only a few weeks ago, I think Michelle was asking me whether it was possible that we could be in Washington. At that time, that wasn't looking very possible. Well, look, what's happened now.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said last year that not everyone has to get on the bus for the bus to leave the station. Does that apply to the international border? Can you envision opening up to a state like New South Wales that get above 80 per cent and not waiting for the states who don't want to open?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. I can. The National Plan sets out that very clearly.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you be seeking assurances from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today that she will stick to the National Plan and are you in conversation with any of the pharmaceutical companies about securing vaccine supplies for under 12s when one is available?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll let Greg speak to the latter matter. But let me be very clear, because I understand someone today said we should be vaccinating under 12 and preparing for vaccinating under 12. There's not a country in the world that has approved a vaccine for under 12s and to sort of hint that that was something that's about to happen or should be happening now, I don't think is very responsible. It's not responsible. As you've heard already from Professor Kelly, the vaccination programme that goes across the population from 12 and above, and as I said, I think I said to you last week, not specifically, but at last week's press conference, we will be making public the numbers of 12 to 15 year olds who are vaccinated in the same way we do for the rest of the population. So there's a transparency around that. I think parents want to know that. I think ...
JOURNALIST: [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: I'm still answering the last question. So just hold on, Greg. Settle. On the issue of dealing, on issues with the Premier attending, as she has done now on 54 occasions, I think today, I would just expect us to have a good discussion to be better understanding the implications of the Doherty modelling. There's a further you know, there was a very long discussion we had last week about an hour and a half. There was the opportunity to understand that modelling well and its implications. And so there'll be another opportunity for that. I take the view that the more people know, the more they're informed, the more they're able to understand these issues and the better the policy outcomes are. And so this afternoon is another good opportunity for that. The National Plan was agreed. National Plan was agreed by all states and territories. It's a plan that is actually going to see Australia open up again and Australia move forward again. It doesn't come without its risks and it's important that it's done safely. And the plan is a safe plan. It sees a soft opening as you ease into a more, more broad opening when you hit 80 per cent. That's the nature of the plan. And that's why I believe states and territories supported it. It wasn't an all or nothing plan. It was a plan that was very careful based on the best science, the best economic advice. Dr Kennedy will be joining us also this afternoon at National Cabinet because remember, the National Plan was based on the health advice and the economic advice and making sure that we get those in good balance. But Greg, did you do want to deal with the other issue?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: So just on vaccine supply for children under 12, we've already secured vaccine supply. We have a whole of population supply. Next year, we have 60 million Pfizer that are available, that we have 15 million Moderna for next year over and above the 10 million for this year. We have 51 million Novavax that are available. So at this stage, as Paul has said on many occasions, as Michael Kidd and others, there are no vaccines anywhere in the world which have been approved for use in children under 12 for COVID-19. But if they are, we're already prepared. We've already got the supply.
PRIME MINISTER: Ok, I have to leave it there. Thanks Boris, I owe you a beer. Cheers.
Ministerial Statement: Paralympics
2 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Mr Speaker, on indulgence, before the Parliament rises, as we indeed did for our great Olympians, I want to share Australia's joy and pride in our Paralympians. There are still three more wonderful days ahead and we are so, so proud of our team. They have shown discipline, focus, determination, dogged persistence, a great sense of humour, Mr Speaker, a great sense of the Australian spirit on display.
We have witnessed the essence of what sport is all about, being the best you possibly can be. Sixty medals, including 13 gold, so far, so far. Mr Speaker, these are Australia's newest gold medallists, Madison de Rozario - gold in the 800 metres T53; James Turner - gold in the 400 metres T36. In the cycling, Darren Hicks - gold in the 24 kilometre road time trial C2; Amanda Reid - gold in the track 500 time trials C1-3; Paige Greco - gold in the track 3,000 metre individual pursuit C1-3; Emily Petricola - gold in the track 3,000 metre individual pursuit C4. In the swimming, Rowan Crothers - gold in the 50 metres freestyle S10; Ben Popham - gold in the 100 metre freestyle S8; Lakeisha ‘Lucky’ Patterson - gold in the 400 metre freestyle S9; William Martin - gold in the men's 400 metre freestyle S9 and the men's four by 100 freestyle relay, 34 points, including Matt Levy, Rowan Crothers, William Martin and Ben Popham. And in the table tennis, Australia's first gold medals in the sport for some 37 years; Li Na Lei - gold in the singles class 9, and Qian Yang - gold in the singles class 10.
Mr Speaker, we have won 60 medals so far, and recognising the national significance of the Paralympic team, I'm very pleased to announce that the Government will provide additional support to Paralympics Australia to ensure our Paralympic medallists will receive equivalent payments to our Olympic medallists, Mr Speaker.
The Minister for Sport, at my request, spoke to Paralympics Australia CEO Lynne Anderson earlier today, and I'm delighted we've been able to support our fantastic Paralympians in this way. And, I thank Lynne for the great work that she does with our Paralympic team and and the way we've worked together on this, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, our Paralympians are wonderful and powerful role models. Darren Hicks - who won gold and a silver in Tokyo - was a truck driver who had a terrible accident seven years ago. And, with the help of others, he rebuilt his life. Fighting back the tears, Darren said, “It's an absolute dream to hear the anthem.” There's Curtis McGrath. Curtis served as a combat engineer in Afghanistan and in August 2012 lost his legs after an IED explosion. That same day, he vowed, “You'll see me at the Paralympics.” He kept his vow, winning gold at Rio, and he's been competing today, progressing through his heat to the semi-final. Australia is proud of Curtis, proud of his service, proud of his grit.
So many others have inspired us. There was Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson's ecstatic reaction after winning a bronze medal in the swimming individual medley and achieving his childhood dream, after missing out on the Rio Paralympic Games. We witnessed the incredible return of sprinter Isis Holt. Isis won two silver and a bronze medal in Rio. Isis is here from Canberra and took a two-year break from the sport to focus on her studies, and she comes away from Tokyo with two more silver medals. Swimming silver medallist Ahmed Kelly - until the age of seven, he lived in the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Baghdad Orphanage, along with his brother. He was adopted by a humanitarian worker. Like so many others, Ahmed made Australia his home. Ahmed lives- Ahmed loves Aussie Rules, where he was given the nickname ‘Nails’, because he's as tough as nails, Mr Speaker. And, there's the youngest athlete on the team, 15-year-old Isabella Vincent. She won silver in the pool. As a six-year-old, she was inspired by the great Australian Kurt Fearnley, who happens to have the same condition as her. Izzy and Kurt met not long before she was jetting off to Japan. She said, “They say you shouldn’t meet your hero. They are wrong.” Now Kurt says he is her number one fan.
Speaking of number one fans, I'm claiming membership at the Todd Hodgetts fan club, Mr Speaker, together with Peter Gutwein. Mr Speaker, how good is Todd Hodgetts? When he was asked about his technique and his motivation in the shot put circle, this is how he described it: “I said God and country, and I whacked it.” Todd's planning all the way out to Brisbane 2032, Mr Speaker, and I'm going to be there to watch him. I will be there to watch him, Mr Speaker.
And I have to give a shout out to Dan Michel and his ramp assistant Ash McClure. They won bronze in in boccia - I hope I've got that right, Mr Speaker. I'm glad barre’s not in the Olympics. Australia's first medal in this discipline in 25 years. Dan and Ash are from the Shire, Mr Speaker, and I'm a very proud local member for them.
All our Paralympians are incredibly dedicated. But, the dedication of Christie Dawes in athletics and Danni Di Toro in table tennis is simply extraordinary. They are both competing in their seventh Paralympics.
James Turner, Mr Speaker, who won gold in the men's 400 metre T36 race explained why the Paralympics matters so much to all of us. He said, “Having a disability is defined as what you cannot do, but competing at the Paralympics is all about what you can do. I want to go out there,” he said, “and show what you can do, instead of focusing on what you can't.” And that's a great lesson for all of us, Mr Speaker.
To everyone in the Paralympic movement and to all who organise these games, especially our great friends in Japan, I say thank you. I say thank you. It has been a great triumph and will continue to be in the days ahead.
And to all our Paralympians, thank you so much for inspiring us. Congratulations on your tremendous efforts. I want to thank all of your families and your friends and your supporters and everybody you know has stood alongside you and help you along your way. But, they know, as well as I'm sure you do, that at the end of the day, it was you who made the choice as a Paralympian. It was you who decided to go forward. It was you who decided to commit and be determined to be where you have been over these magical few weeks, and you have inspired us and we are grateful that you are one of us as Australians. There is still much to complete. And in the days ahead, we continue to wish you all the best of luck.
Statement to the Parliament: 70th Anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty - Australian Parliament House, ACT
1 September 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Mr Speaker,
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty — the ANZUS Treaty.
ANZUS is the foundation stone of Australia's national security and a key pillar for peace and stability in our Indo-Pacific region.
For seven decades, it has underpinned vital military, national security and intelligence cooperation between Australia and the United States. And much more besides.
It has been, and I hope always will be, a shared national endeavour; one that has evolved to meet new challenges based on enduring values.
The ANZUS Treaty was signed facing the ocean we share on 1 September 1951 in San Francisco.
Among its architects, none stands taller than Australia’s Minister for External Affairs in the early years of the Menzies Government - and later Ambassador to the United States - Percy Spender.
It was Percy Spender’s unique foresight and hard-headed realism that helped secure the treaty - just 11 articles and little more than 800 words - that has stood the test of time.
Sir Robert Menzies reflected on ANZUS, which I consider to be the greatest achievement of his Government, towards the end of his prime ministership.
He said:
“… there is a contract between Australia and America. It is a contract based on the utmost goodwill, the utmost good faith, and unqualified friendship. Each of us will stand by it.”
And so we have.
And for more than a century now.
From the cornfields of Le Hamel to the unforgiving steep terrain of Mount Tambo in Papua New Guinea where stretcher bearer Les ‘Bull’ Allen rescued twelve American soldiers from the battlefield, and was recognised for his bravery with the award of the Silver Star.
Mates helping mates.
This continued in the snow of Korea, the rice paddies and jungles of Vietnam and most recently in the dust of Iraq and Afghanistan and the evacuation of Kabul.
Our Alliance is based on trust and mutual respect.
Trust and respect so often forged in adversity, as it was in the Second World War when Prime Minister Curtin, almost a decade before ANZUS, turned our focus to the United States in our most desperate hour.
And it is an alliance based on a positive vision for our region for a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific.
Our Alliance is based on a friendship that has never demanded the silence, or indeed, censure of its critics.
Rather, we tend to ‘the tree of liberty’ across the Pacific.
Ours is a partnership based on hope and aspiration.
We believe in:
Free nations, charting their own destinies.
Free economies, trading fairly and openly.
And free peoples, embracing the future optimistically.
Mr Speaker,
The ANZUS treaty breathes and adapts with each passing generation, stewarded by 14 Presidents and 14 Prime Ministers since Menzies.
Our relationship now spans security and defence, diplomacy, trade, intelligence, shared facilities, space and cyber, future defence capability, and the shared ties of people, culture and outlook.
It embraces collaboration on new technologies, critical minerals, strengthening our supply chains, providing vaccines throughout the Pacific, and meeting the challenges of climate change and the new energy economy.
Our two peoples see the world through the same lens.
The Treaty we celebrate today has leaned into the world, dealing with it honestly as it is, in the hope of it becoming more as we would like it to be.
Mr Speaker,
At the launch of the Defence Strategic Update last year, I said we live in a region “where peace, stability, and prosperity cannot be taken for granted.”
Australia is confronting the most challenging strategic environment in decades.
This strategic environment will challenge us, as it will challenge the United States and our region.
Our alliance will stand resilient in the face of these challenges as we nurture and refresh our commitment one to another.
The ANZUS Treaty states, “no potential aggressor could be under the illusion” that we as allies “stand alone in the Pacific area”.
Our nation’s desire to “strengthen the fabric of peace”, and meet the strategic challenges we face, continues to be served by our alliance with the United States and the Treaty we entered into 70 years ago today.
Together, we share hope; we share burden; we share vision.
We may not be equal in size but there is no doubting the equality of our commitment, our resolve and our dedication to the values that underpin our great partnership.
Together, we have always supported a world that favours freedom.
Our Alliance — and America’s deep engagement in our region — is essential as we look to rebuild from the pandemic, and shape a free and open Indo-Pacific that is stable, secure and prosperous.
In this mission, Australia and the United States work with friends old and new.
Our long-standing ASEAN partners, our Pacific family, our fellow travellers in the Quad, Five Eyes and G7+. We work together, for an Indo-Pacific region
… where the sovereign rights of all nations are respected …
… that is free of coercion …
… and where disputes are settled peacefully, and in accordance with international law.
For as President Eisenhower declared ‘one truth must rule all we think and do. The unity of all who dwell in freedom is their only sure defence’.
Mr Speaker,
On this milestone, we recall another anniversary.
Next week marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Our then-Prime Minister John Howard was in Washington D.C. on the day of the tragedy.
He saw the smoke plume in Washington.
And he also saw the great spirit and enduring faith of the American people.
On returning home, John Howard addressed this House, saying:
“[I]f our debt as a nation to the people of the United States in the darkest days of World War II means anything, if the comradeship, the friendship and the common bonds of democracy and a belief in liberty, fraternity and justice mean anything, it means that the ANZUS Treaty applies.”
It was the first, and remains the only, time the ANZUS Treaty has been formally invoked.
While ANZUS has only been invoked that one time, the intent of that treaty - the values that treaty represents - have underpinned our deep and enduring relationship with the United States for the past seventy years and will for decades to come.
Last week, we spoke in this House about our response to the 2001 terrorist attacks. Attacks that shaped much of the following years.
Last week, the horrific events at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate reminded us yet again of the enormous price our ally has paid for its role in the world.
The United States has so often established the very peace and safety that so many have sheltered under.
From the remarkable achievement of shaping a post-war world that resulted
... in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the postwar rules-based order.
....The Marshall Plan - described by General Marshall himself as a policy ‘directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty and desperation’.
.... The rebuilding of Japan and the security umbrella for the development of Asia.
…. The Berlin airlift that defied Soviet coercion and kept the flame of liberty alive that eventually saw the wall that would enclose them, torn down by the hands of those who it sought to forever separate,
…. The ongoing stand against radical Islamist extremism that blasphemes and perverts their religion and dishonours those who seek to live out their faith in peace.
We must recognise that the peace afforded to so many by the United States, including those who have been quick to criticise, has so often come at such great cost to our great ally, friend and partner.
This is something Australia will never take for granted or presume upon.
As I have said many times, Australia looks to the United States, but we will never leave it to the United States.
We stand by each other, together, and for the truths we both hold dear “in sunshine and in sorrow”, as President Johnson said, and in the words of Sir Robert Menzies “warmed by the same fires”.
May that always be true.
And finally, as President Reagan reminded us, let us press us on, knowing that “liberty is not an inevitable state and [that] there is no law which guarantees that once achieved it will survive”.
So let us pledge ourselves again here on this 70th anniversary of our great alliance, to renew and modernise our Alliance; to continue to be vigilant and strong; to build the economic strength for the peace and prosperity of all; and for a world order that favours freedom.
Whatever challenges lie ahead, I know that Australia and the United States will go on to meet them with the same courage, the same daring, the same unbreakable bond that has carried us to this day and will continue to do so into the future.
A bond sealed by the sacrifices of all who have served under the flags of Australia and the United States, whom we honour this day.
In whose name we rededicate ourselves to the values and freedoms they fought to secure, uphold and pursue.
And may our prayer be that God continue to bless our alliance, the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Australia.