Speeches
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
28 October 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, everyone. I’m joined by the Minister for Health and Aged Care and the Chief Medical Officer. Australians are taking their lives back from what COVID took from them. And this is positive news. And as we go into the weeks ahead, we will continue to see positive changes happening all around our country. We’re beating COVID and we’re taking our lives back. And we're doing this as we see the vaccination levels in our country rise and rise. We are beating the models, the models that have instructed us along the way and set out the path that may occur, whether it's on the impact on our hospital system and the way that things are playing out - we’ve prepared for the worst but we always plan also for the best, and we’re seeing more of the latter than the former.
But, that said, that does not mean that difficult days are still not before us. And that is particularly true for the family and friends of loved ones, particularly in Victoria today, where we've had 25 deaths, and two in Sydney. And, once again, we extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to all the families and friends of those who’ve fallen victim to COVID. It is a sobering reminder of the terrible reality of this pandemic. And that that reality is still visited upon us here in Australia, despite the progress we’re making.
But our best defence against all of that has been the vaccination program, and today, three quarters of Australians have now been double dosed vaccinated. That is an extraordinary achievement by Australians all around the country, led particularly in New South Wales and Victoria and the ACT where those rates now, particularly on first doses, as I said yesterday, is higher for Australia than now even the United Kingdom. So Australians are doing what their part of the deal was, and we’re keeping our part of the deal, because from Monday, fully vaxxed Australians, we will see them being able to travel overseas from next Monday. In New South Wales and Victoria and the ACT, they will be open. Australia is connecting together again.
And I can tell you, no one is happier about that than me as Prime Minister to see that occurring, and we're going to continue to see that occurring in the months ahead, and substantially before Christmas, as all states and territories have been outlining that plan, obviously with the exception of WA, before
the end of this year. So, I welcome that.
Regional travel returns, interstate travel returns and international travel returns, happening across all of those jurisdictions. That means families reuniting together. It means business travellers being able to get on planes and connecting again and getting our economy moving, as our economy is one of- been one of the best performing around the world when it comes to COVID-19. Not only have we had the lowest fatality rates in the world, amongst those of the lowest in the world, but we’ve had the strongest economy - one of them, advanced economies coming through this COVID pandemic - and now we are on track to have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, which means that we are able to open up Australia, in accordance with the National Plan.
Now, an important part of that is moving forward with the booster program. And that booster program will commence on November 8. And I’ll ask the Minister for Health and Aged Care and the CMO to take you through a few more of those details, but they’re on November the eighth, that process will begin again. Jane Malysiak and I and the CMO will be heading off soon thereafter to be able to ensure that we have those boosters.
Those booster programs will obviously, will have a focus, especially on aged care and health workers, but it is an all of, whole of population booster program. And there are enough vaccines to do it. In fact, as JJ Frewen, General Frewen, announced only the other day, there is enough vaccines right now here in Australia to ensure that everybody who wants one, to get both single and double vaxxed, can have one.
So, it’s over to the rest of Australia. Wherever you are, there are enough vaccines here to ensure that we can be hitting those 80 per cent marks, which we expect to achieve next week, and to ensure that in Queensland and WA, in particular, there are enough doses there for those 80 per cent and 70 per cent marks to be achieved right now. So, I encourage people to take up that challenge and go out and get those doses.
I’d make one other point before I pass over to Greg, and that is, obviously tonight I’ll be heading off to the G20 Leaders’ Summit, as well as the COP26 in Glasgow. The world is reaching what I think is a critical point in our health and economic recovery from COVID, and that will be a key focus of the discussions that I know we'll be having there. The multilateralism of vaccines and the 60 million doses that Australia has already committed, and I was speaking about these last night as part of the East Asia Summit which I participated in.
I also note that yesterday, in our meeting of the first ever Australia-ASEAN ongoing annual dialogue, that we achieved a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership - that is an elevation to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership level relationship with ASEAN. Now, that is the first such partnership ASEAN has entered into with any country in the world. Such is the closeness of our relationship with our friends and partners here in South East Asia that ASEAN has selected Australia to be their first Comprehensive Strategic Partner. And no doubt, there will be others. But our longstanding relationship with our ASEAN partners, I think, has been recognised in that being able to be achieved yesterday, and I thank particularly Minister Payne for all the tremendous work that she has done on that task.
And, so, whether it's in summits like that or others, this issue of reaching that critical point on our health and economic recovery from COVID will be a keen focus for discussion amongst G20 leaders, and ensuring there’s equitable and safe access to effective vaccines.
Another key issue that I'll be raising, though, will be that we need to fully harness the benefits of digitalisation. But, in doing that, making sure the rules that apply in the real world apply in the digital world. I will continue to press, as Australia always has, and show the leadership on this issue globally that we must hold social media platforms to account. They’re publishers, not just platforms, and particularly when they allow people to anonymously go on their platforms and publish their vile rubbish, whether that is to bully a young girl or target people online or to push defamatory statements out against people, and to do so anonymously with impunity - that’s not freedom of speech, that’s just cowardice, and we cannot have that thrown up on our social media platforms to Australians in this country.
It's not just a problem here in Australia, it's a problem all around the world. We led the charge, together with New Zealand and France, after the Christchurch massacre, and I took that to the G20 in Osaka and we achieved a Global Leaders' Statement that has followed through with real action to ensure that the Internet, and particular social media platforms, are not used as a weapon by terrorists. But, they’re still being used as a weapon right now, destroying the mental health of our young people, destroying lives, and it's just not on in this country.
The online privacy draft legislation that we've already released, and people are aware of that today, that builds on so many of the other things we've already done to, on take down powers, the eSafety Commissioner. Australia is leading in this area and we’ll, I'll be raising that with other G20 leaders when I’m there because we have to go further than we are now.
Of course, at COP26, I’ll have the privilege of being able to confirm Australia's commitment to have a target of net zero by 2050, and of course to update our projections as part of our Nationally Determined Contributions, that our 26 to 28 per cent target, we anticipate, will be exceeded with a 35 per cent reduction in our emissions by 2030. And on that, I’ll pass you to the Minister for Health.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thank you very much, Prime Minister and to Professor Kelly. Australia already has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. We have one of the most recently vaccinated populations, and now we are set to have, after Israel, one of the earliest whole of nation booster programs.
Yesterday, we set out the fact that the TGA had approved the Pfizer vaccine for booster. Today, I'm really pleased and privileged to be able to announce that ATAGI has recommended that we commence the booster program for the whole of nation, with the Pfizer vaccine. Other vaccines are likely to put forward applications - Moderna, we are expecting to do that.
I'm very pleased to be able to say that I’ve spoken with the country representative for Novavax today, and we are expecting Novavax to submit their application for their vaccine to the Australian regulator in the coming weeks, if not earlier. And what this means is that commencing November the 8th for the full national program, the boosters will be available on the basis of six months plus from your vaccination. Early priority will be a focus on aged care and disability, but, by definition, we have enough vaccine in the country to vaccinate everybody who comes due. And so as your six months has passed, then you will be eligible to come forward.
Indeed, the first aged care vaccinations are occurring today, literally as we speak, in four minutes from now, I think, they’re due to commence in the Geelong area, where TLC is commencing their program, and others will be carried out over the coming days before November 8, and if any GPs wish to commence, then they’re in a position to do that, but we're setting this program to commence more generally across the country.
I'm also pleased that we will be offering Pfizer to all pharmacies in Australia and they can use that for primary and secondary doses or to complete the, complete the booster program for people. And it will be up to individual pharmacies whether they take that up, and the first of those will be rolled out from the week of the 8th of November.
Finally, just in terms of the rollout itself, we've had another 221,000 vaccinations in the last 24 hours. We've now passed the 35 million mark - 35,049,000 vaccinations. And as the PM said, we’re over 75 per cent double dose. We’re 75.5 per cent for the 16 plus population and 87.6 per cent of 16 plus Australians have now had a first vaccination. And just to put this in context, perhaps, most importantly, 98.8 per cent, 98.8 per cent of our over 70s have had a first dose, and 99.8 per cent of our aged care workers have had a, have had at least a first dose, and here in the ACT, you’ve passed 99 per cent. So, thank you and congratulations.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, COMMONWEALTH CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you PM and thank you Minister. So, it's a very important day after a lot of discussions with ATAGI to get that final advice on the booster programme. A couple of points I just want to make to add to what the Minister has said. This is a boost. Two doses, the primary course of the vaccination will be fully vaccinated and seen as fully vaccinated in any way that that works through to, for example, for the overseas travel and so forth. So two doses is fully vaccinated. The booster, I've said this before, it gives you a boost, and it's important for those that have got to that six month time to consider their booster. It definitely gives extra protection against severe disease, particularly for older Australians and those that are in that vulnerable group. You'll remember last year with that 1a and 1b, we're not prioritising this time around, but they will be the ones that will be first to get to that six month period, so they should come forward. Health care workers can come forward. Anyone can come forward if they've, if they've got to that six month time to have the boost. So that's important that's been seen in the ATAGI statement will be published later today. It demonstrates the safety of that approach, demonstrates the effectiveness of that approach based on what we know from international experience. It's where we will be one of the first countries in the world to offer a booster to the whole of the population based on that six month mark once people are due.
The other, the other one thing I would like to say has been some a lot of excitement, of course, about the opening up of the international border on next Monday. There's been a challenge for those that are travelling as families, for children of a of an age, particularly between the age of 12 and 17 in some countries they haven't started that programme for vaccinations for that age group. In the UK, for example, they take one dose of vaccine as being fully vaccinated. So I've been working very closely with my colleagues in the ACT, Victoria and New South Wales in the last couple of days just to get certainty for that. And so that will be that will be resolved today, later today. But just in general terms, we're not going to be splitting up families. Those children will travel above the cap and they will be required to have a seven day home quarantine and a couple of tests just to give that extra safety buffer because they are not fully vaccinated. But we're not splitting up families and we've got agreement, as the PM has said across those three jurisdictions, very good cooperation. I thank my colleagues for working through that. There will be further to say in detail about that later today.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] The Nationals secured a regional infrastructure fund as part of the net zero deal. Can you be transparent with the public and tell us how big this fund is? Who's going to run it and what is the investment mandate?
PRIME MINISTER: All of the policies that we'll be announcing to invest in rural and regional Australia will be included in the usual budget updates and that'll be done between here and the next election.
JOURNALIST: You said earlier this week that your net zero target by 2050 was an economy wide target. Mr Joyce this morning indicated that agriculture has been carved out, that methane emissions won't be included. Can you clarify?
PRIME MINISTER: It's a whole-of-economy emissions reduction target. What we've said very clearly, though, is we're not signing up to the 2030 methane request, and that's actually a bipartisan position, and we made that very clear and that's been reported today. We've also said very clearly that under our plan, we won't be putting any mandates on farmers. We won't be targeting them in any way as part of our emissions reduction plan. They're the clear assurances that we've made. We won't be doing things that will have a net negative impact on our agricultural sector. What we want is the agricultural sector to be able to participate in this. We don't want them to be excluded from the revenue streams and income sources that will flow from their participation in this programme. To exclude them from that would be a great disadvantage to them, and I don't want them to be cut off from that. The other point I'd make, though, is on the safeguard mechanism, which you'd be familiar with, which came from the King Review, he, ah, that mechanism currently doesn't include any feedlots or any farmers or anyone in that situation, and nor will it because of the way that it's designed, and we have no plans to change that. And so that's the nature of the things that we've discussed. I mean, the agricultural sector is going to be better off under our plan and they’re better off being part of the plan, and they have a lot to contribute to the plan as they have already. They've played a huge role in the 20 per cent reduction in emissions that we've already been able to achieve, and they'll continue to play a positive role, a role that benefits them, that boosts their productivity and their opportunities and lift the incomes and the economies of our rural and regional areas.
JOURNALIST: Can I just clarify on that? Was it the Australian Government's position before negotiations started with The Nationals that the country would make a pledge to cut emissions methane emissions by 2030? And the negotiations, with the negotiation with Barnaby Joyce on that matter did not try ...
PRIME MINISTER: We never had any plans to sign up to that.
JOURNALIST: The COP President, Boris Johnson's COP President, Alok Sharma, has welcomed your 2050 commitment, but he's called for a more ambitious 2030 NDC. What will you say to him when you get to Glasgow and second question with the G20, will you be looking to mend some bridges when you meet with the French leader and also the Chinese delegate, I think that's the foreign minister at the G20?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll take up all of those opportunities and looking forward to wherever we have those opportunities, I mean we'll be conscious, particularly of I know the deep disappointment in France about the decision we took in Australia's national interests regarding the submarine contract. We've been working those issues through. I welcomed back the Ambassador to Australia. I'm pleased he's here, there's been good engagement with him over the course of this past week, which has been great and and we'll take that forward in a spirit of cooperation in particularly for France, because, you know, we're both here in the Indo-Pacific, we are like-minded, we share values and we share the objectives and aspirations for the Indo-Pacific region, of which France isn't just an observer of, they're a participant. They're here as part of the French territories. So we have an obvious partnership here in the Indo-Pacific, and I know that's understood in France. There is some deep disappointment on those contractual issues on a bipartisan basis, but we'll work through those and I'm very confident about that. You'll have to remind me about the first part of your question.
JOURNALIST: ... the COP President ...
PRIME MINISTER: We've got a plan for Australia. They've got a plan for the UK. And I welcomed Boris's comments the other day because Boris actually has a pretty good understanding of the Australian economy. But let's just talk about how well the Australian economy has gone with our emissions reductions to date. I mean, when you compare them to our good friends in Canada and New Zealand, which haven't even cracked double digits yet on emissions reduction and then of course, the United States or Japan, we're outperforming all of them on our emissions reduction. And that is at the same time that we've had one of the biggest increases in our LNG industry in our history. And so that tells you something about our ability to manage the sort of economy we have to achieve emissions reduction completely different to what the UK is doing and be able to say exactly what we're going to say. We've always taken the view that we intend to meet and beat. We've always taken the view that performance means more than aspiration on these things. And we have set out, I think, very responsible targets. We will meet them and we will beat them, but particularly on the issue of 2050 v 2030. This is a very important point and that is that the technology that you need, much of which was some of which at the very least, is yet to be realised, that has long lead times and you need to put the resources in now for things that could take 10 or even 20 years. And if you divert your resources away from those types of things that has the, that 2050 pay off, you actually put the 2050 payoff at risk. We want to achieve the 2050 outcome and we want to achieve it with the technology that delivers it. Now, I know there's been a lot of feedback on our plan, which doesn't express the same confidence in technology to achieve this outcome that we have. And I can tell Australians very clearly that if you don't think technology can do this and you're not confident about that, and it seems the Labor Party is not, they have two other options. They'll tax you and they'll regulate you and force your decisions. Now, that's not our plan. That's not the Australian way. That clearly seems to be the path they're heading down. That's a matter for them. Other countries will make their decisions. We'll make Australian decisions, in Australia for Australia's interests, and that's what I'll be saying in Glasgow.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce says agriculture has been carved out of the net zero deal. You're saying it hasn't. Has there been some sort of misunderstanding here?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I have no misunderstanding. It's a whole-of-economy emissions reduction plan.
JOURNALIST: Did Barnaby Joyce misunderstand?
PRIME MINISTER: That's the policy. That's the policy agreed by Cabinet.
JOURNALIST: On the forthcoming legislation on the Integrity Commission. Have you given any thought to strengthening that legislation, given comments from your own backbench about the need for that? And secondly, do you regret the comment you made about "we would not follow a New South Wales ICAC's style model", given what we've heard from Gladys Berejiklian's own former colleagues in the last couple of weeks about her, how she should have disclosed the relationship with Daryl Maguire?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the second one, no, I don't have any regrets about that in terms of the statements I've made previously and on the other matter, we've been setting out our model, if that model is not accepted by others in this parliament, well, that's a matter for them. But that's the model that we would seek to proceed with and will seek to finalise that, that final legislation. We think that's the best way to go ahead. I think there are differences between state governments and federal governments when it comes to these matters. I mean, we have a lot of other institutions here at the federal level that I think are being ignored by others who do a very, have a very important role. I'm not about to let or support a system that, you know, takes us down the path where it's it's trial outside of proper processes. That's not something that I think is consistent with our values.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] the voter ID legislation introduced this morning to be in place for the next election and what do you make of the criticism that it is a very large response to a very small problem?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you know, this has been the, I used to be, one of my first jobs in this place, I was the deputy chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. That was one of the first jobs I had. And, you know, at the ‘13, ‘16 and 2019 elections, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has been recommending these types of changes. It's not an earth shattering proposal that when you go to the vote that you should be able to say you are who you are and provide some form of identification to support that, that's an important protection for our democracy. In fact, it's so important that countries like Canada, France, Sweden, Belgium, at least 14 states in the United States, the United Kingdom has this year introduced voter ID laws to the House of Commons just this year. I mean, this is a standard practise that is in liberal democracies. The Declaration Vote process provides the safeguard for those who may be vulnerable and for whom this might prove a challenge, but not one vote will be lost that is a formal vote and a real vote from a real person, and those safeguards are built into the Bill. But I think it's fair enough in a democracy. If I turn up at the ballot box, there in Lilli Pilli and say, my name's Scott Morrison and give them my address, that I should be able to say, and here's a form of identification that we all have these days to be able to to be able to substantiate that. And if I don't have that, well, you do a declaration vote and that's sorted out during the normal process.
And on the answer to the other one is yes, of course. I think this is an important change, and I think it's good for our democracy. So if the Labor Party doesn't want to support people actually telling people who they are and backing that up, well, you'd have to wonder why.
JOURNALIST: Is there a goal for the optimal coverage of booster shots? And if not, why not given it's a population wide programme? Do we need to get that 70-80 per cent target again?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll ask Paul to address that.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, COMMONWEALTH CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: The short answer is no, Clare. There's no target for this one. It's a boost. Just to reiterate the first two doses that primary course is the full vaccination, after that is is an extra bonus, which I would very much encourage people to take up. As the PM has said, we have plenty of vaccine all over the country, multiple places that people can get this, get their dose for their booster. And in the meantime, those that haven't had their first and second doses, please go ahead and get that done today.
PRIME MINISTER: Plenty of vaccines. There's enough vaccines out there for everybody who wants one to get one. So please, if you haven't done it yet, go out there and get vaccinated. I'll see those of you on the plane, a little later. Thank you.
Remarks, ASEAN-Australia Virtual Summit
27 October 2021
PRIME MINSTER: Well, thank you very much, Your Majesty and Your Excellencies. I'm delighted to be here at this first annual ASEAN-Australia Summit with our ASEAN friends. Another significant milestone in our relationship.
As your first dialogue partner, our annual summits will allow us to deepen our already very, very strong ties, and will guide us through an era of profound change in the Indo-Pacific.
I wish to particularly commend Your Majesty Brunei Darussalam for its leadership and commitment to promoting stability and recovery during what has been an extraordinarily challenging year.
Your Majesty, I have particularly valued our work together this year on mental health - the shadow pandemic - which I know you have made mention of in many forums as leaders have come together over the course of these past few years.
Brunei Darussalam’s Chair theme, ‘We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper,’ underlines the importance of our shared recovery.
And as we continue to grapple with COVID-19, we know that we cannot respond and recover alone. In true partnership, that is the best way forward.
There is no higher priority for us all than access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.
We have shared almost four million doses directly with ASEAN partners to date, and we expect to share millions more by the end of next year.
I am also pleased to advise that we will share at least an additional 10 million doses from our domestic supply with ASEAN countries by mid-next year.
ASEAN members’ growth underpins regional stability, and Australia's prosperity.
Your stability is fundamental to our own. Our health security is inextricably tied to yours. And our enduring partnership supports an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific region.
ASEAN is at the centre of the Indo-Pacific. And we back this, both through our words and our actions.
In 2020, Australia made significant investments to support your COVID-19 response and recovery, including some $500 Australian dollars - million dollars - of packages of support that I announced at last year’s Summit, consistent with the four key areas of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, which we share.
Australia has proposed an elevation of our partnership with ASEAN to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, because we want our cooperation to reach new heights.
I respect ASEAN's process for considering CSPs.
Should ASEAN decide to agree to CSPs, Australia is, of course, ready.
A CSP, though, is more than just a label. We will back it with substance that positions our partnership to address complex challenges in the future.
And I'm pleased to announce today the Australia for ASEAN Futures Initiative, to drive cooperation, support implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, and deepen our investment in the region's future.
Australia will provide $124 million to fund projects, jointly identified by ASEAN and Australia, to address to address complex and emerging challenges.
Challenges like COVID-19 recovery, terrorism, transnational crime, energy security and transition to lower emissions technology, the circular economy, and, of course, our healthy oceans.
Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, as you know, recently announced an enhanced capability and technology sharing partnership, which is known as AUKUS.
All three of us are ASEAN Dialogue Partners.
And I want to address this upfront, because transparency and communication on this important initiative is important to Australia, with our ASEAN friends.
And I know hearing from us has been important to you.
AUKUS does not change Australia's commitment to ASEAN or the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. Indeed, it reinforces it. It reinforces the backing that we have for an ASEAN-led regional architecture.
These commitments are stronger than ever.
AUKUS adds to our network of partnerships that support regional stability and security.
Australia remains deeply committed to international law and the rules-based order that has underpinned regional stability and prosperity, and which all ASEAN members depend.
AUKUS does not change Australia's deep, long-standing commitment to nuclear non-proliferation - Australia does not want and will not seek nuclear weapons, as I've assured all ASEAN members.
We will continue to meet all our obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Australia and ASEAN - we're good friends, we're good neighbours, and are natural partners at the centre of the Indo-Pacific.
And so I look forward to hearing from you all today, and I thank you very much for the honour of being part of this first dialogue partnership. Thank you, Your Majesty.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
26 October 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Australians understand, and they support, the need to take action on climate change. So do I. So does our government. I know this because Australians and our government are already taking action on climate change and we're already delivering. We're already down the path. Australia has already achieved more than a 20 per cent reduction in our emissions since 2005. Australia has already achieved the highest rate of rooftop solar in the world. Australia already has a rate of installation of renewable energy that is eight times per capita faster than New Zealand and Japan and three times faster than the United States, and the EU and Germany, specifically. Australia has already met and beat, but our Kyoto 2020 targets and indeed Australia will beat and meet our 2030 targets as well. Australians' actions on climate change speak louder than the words of others.
We're getting it done on emissions reduction. That is the Australian way. And we've done this at the same time as increasing the size of our economy by 45 per cent. Growing our economy and creating some three million jobs. Expanding our exports, expanding our agriculture and resource sectors, in particular our LNG sector. And most recently, Australia now has a million of our number back in manufacturing jobs. A million Australians employed in manufacturing. This is what is being achieved in Australia. Emissions coming down. Our economy growing. And the opportunities of Australians expanding. Australians want action on climate change. They're taking action on climate change, but they also want to protect their jobs and their livelihoods. They also want to keep the costs of living down. And they also want to protect the Australian way of life, especially in rural and regional areas. The Australian way of life is unique. I mentioned this to our party room this morning. After the terrible floods in North Queensland, when I stood in the town hall in Julia Creek, I said we needed to rebuild the cattle industry, which had been devastated in the space of about 24 to 48 hours, for many reasons. But one was because it was part of the unique Australian way of life. And that remains true in all of the challenges we face. Australians want a plan that gets the balance right. And our plan to reach what will be our new official target, of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Our plan gets the balance right. Our plan charts a uniquely Australian way. That recognises the challenges.
The world is changing, and the world's response to climate change is changing the world, it is changing the global economy. This is real. It's happening. We understand it and we recognise it. We need to protect against the threats that come from that. And we also need to realise the opportunities that indeed help mitigate those threats and enable Australia to succeed. We know we can't let the changes that are happening around the world just happen to Australia. We know we can't pretend it's not happening, the changes that are occurring around the world, just as we haven't been pretending in the actions that both the government has been taking and most importantly, Australians have been taking. Our plan is a fair plan. It's a practical plan. It's a responsible plan. Our plan for net zero by 2050 is the plan that I believe Australians want because it gets it right. It's been carefully put together. We've listened very carefully to both the concerns and the ambitions of Australians in pulling this together to ensure that we get the plan right. Our plan, most importantly, backs Australians to achieve what they want to achieve when it comes to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Australians want to do that and our plan enables them to do that. Our plan works with Australians to achieve this goal. Our plan enables them, it doesn't legislate them, it doesn't mandate them, it doesn't force them. It respects them. It understands that Australians want to do this, that they want to improve their pasture, that they want to protect their industries, that they want to see them succeed in the future, that they want to have the skills in the future and for their kids to have the skills in the future to be successful in the world that they will face over the next 30 years. It's a plan that backs Australians.
It's also a plan, as I said, that's uniquely Australian. It's an energy trade and economic plan, not just an environmental plan. It's about delivering results through technology, not taxes. It's focused on Australia's national interests and securing our strengths by determining our own destiny. Australians will set our own path to net zero by 2050, and we'll set it here by Australians for Australians. It keeps traditional advantages in the regions while supporting the growth of new industries, and it guarantees we keep downward pressure on those costs of living. It's a plan that ensures that there are many things we don't do as well. It's not a plan at any cost. There's no blank cheques here. It will not shut down our coal or gas production or exports. It will not impact households, businesses or the broader economy with new costs or taxes imposed by the initiatives that we are undertaking. It will not cost jobs, not in farming, mining or gas, because what we're doing in this plan is positive things, enabling things. It will not increase energy bills. It won't. It is not a revolution, but a careful evolution to take advantage of changes in our markets. And it's not a set and forget plan. It has an insurance policy review mechanism to make sure that it keeps delivering for regional Australia. In this plan, there is accountability. And we will be having the Productivity Commission every five years, the first one due by the end of 2023, that will monitor the impact, the socio economic impact of our plans into the future.
So I can say to rural and regional Australians, so this is a good plan for you, it's a good plan for all Australians, and we're confident that it's going to secure your future, that you can plan for your future with confidence and we're backing that up by ensuring that we'll measure that. We won't just be measuring the fact that we'll be reducing emissions. We'll be measuring the fact that we're creating jobs. We'll be measuring the fact that we're boosting incomes will be measuring the fact that we are preserving Australians' livelihoods right across the country because that is also one of the key measures of performance and success with this plan.
So I'll be taking this plan to COP26 for our target to achieve net zero by 2050. You'll be supported by our updated projection that will see us exceed our 2030 target with emissions reduction of up to 35 per cent by 2030. We will keep our commitment, though, when it comes to our pledge that we made and took to the last election of 26 to 28 per cent. But we will meet it and we will beat it, and we will beat it with emissions reductions, we believe, of up to 35 per cent, and we may even achieve better. But this is the approach that we put to the Australian people. We said, there's the mark, but we can meet it and we can beat it and we will. And the world will be able to see us achieving that and they'll be able to take record of that. Because what Australians are doing now is getting results, and they're going to keep getting results and they're going to keep getting better results, so we will honour our commitment to the Australian people. That's what I took to them. That's what they approved and that's what we're doing, and we will continue to work to do even better as part of our plan.
Now I'm going to pass you over to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. I want to thank Angus for the tremendous work that he has done within the government over many years now as we have worked our way through this issue. It has been a very difficult issue and it is one that has been carefully considered. Many who are in this room have been here for a long time. And our journey to this, this place today, I think, has been an important one. But what it says to Australians is we don't come at these things lightly. We come to this in a considered way, in a responsible way. We've come to this very conscious of the impacts of what is happening around the world on Australians and to ensure that we can address that and we can put them in a stronger position. You know, only the Liberal and National parties working together, I think, can get the balance right here. And only the Liberal and National parties, I think, can be trusted with an economic plan that can achieve this and deliver this because we get it, we get both the risks and the opportunities. And that's what our plan is designed to address. So I'm going to ask Angus to take you through that. I think all the members of my cabinet, of course, the Deputy Prime Minister, in bringing us to this very important point and to enable Australians to move forward with confidence with what they're already doing, which is cutting emissions and growing our economy. Angus.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Thanks PM. Well, this plan is practically achievable pathway for Australia to reach net zero by 2050, the Australian way. And that means supporting our traditional jobs, but also capturing new opportunities. It means recognising that customer and investor demands are changing and we need to adapt with them. It means preserving our traditional advantage in competitive, reliable, affordable energy, but it also means building on our track record. And if we turn to the first slide, you'll see that Australia's track record is a proud one, we see developing countries that since 2005 have increased emissions by up to 86 per cent in India, over 70 per cent in China, 33 per cent in South Korea. And Australia versus even developed countries has performed extremely well, with a reduction of almost 21 per cent since 2005 - 20.8 per cent. That's higher than the OECD average in terms of reductions at the United States, Japan, New Zealand and Canada that are obviously comparable major commodity exporters like Australia. Now we've achieved that at a time when we've increased our economy by 45 per cent and we've increased our product exports by over 200 per cent. And you'll see on the next slide that reduction of 20.8 per cent, of course, is substantially larger if you exclude that extraordinary export performance, which all Australians can be very proud of, part of that is the rapid growth of the LNG sector where Australia has been a world leader.
If we look forward to 2030, we are on track to meet and beat our Paris targets. As the Prime Minister said, we're on track now with the work we've done in the technology investment roadmap to achieve up to 35 per cent reduction by 2030. And that comes on a per capita basis to a reduction in emissions 50 per cent or more, which is a very, very respectable performance. And as always, with Australia, we achieve, we deliver. That has been our track record. When we say we're going to do something, we do it, we meet it and we beat it. Now, if we look forward to our plan to 2050, if we go to the next slide. The vision here is to take practical action to achieve net zero by 2050, and that plan is built on our existing policies. It's a plan that will not put industries, regions or jobs at risk. It means we take advantage of those economic opportunities that are emerging now while continuing to serve our traditional markets. And it's a plan for net zero, not absolute zero. And that means offsets are an important part of that plan. The recognition, for instance, that Australia has 90 million hectares of productive agricultural land, which is a very significant carbon sink and can be a more significant carbon sink.
There are five principles driving the plan. Technology, not taxes. Choices, not mandates. We respect customer choice. We respect the choices of Australians, and they've made the choices. We've seen a dramatic uptake of household solar, for instance, in Australia, world leading stuff, but we also respect the choices of our export customers. Those choices will change over time, but it's not for us to say to them what they should buy. It's for us to serve them and adapt our products as they ask for those products to change. It means driving down the costs of a portfolio of technologies, getting those low emissions technologies to cost competitiveness. This is a plan about reducing the cost of low emissions technologies, not raising the cost of traditional energy sources and in sync with that, the fourth principle is to keep our affordable, reliable energy advantage that we've had as a nation for many, many years, and our technology goals are all about supporting that. We are as a country accountable for progress, and there is no country that has provided quarterly emissions updates by sector, by gas, over an extended period of time as Australia has, and that transparency will continue. If you look at where the plan delivers the reductions in emissions we've already achieved over 20 per cent, as I said, the technology investment roadmap, the priority technologies in that roadmap that I outlined with some additions I'll come to in a moment, back in September last year will drive down emissions by 40 per cent.
Global technology trends, this is technologies where we're not shaping them, but we will use them to drive down emissions by another 15 per cent. Offsets provide the opportunity to further reduce emissions by 10 to 20 per cent, and then we're relying on additional technology breakthroughs, some of which we can see now that are likely to provide that final 15 per cent. If you compare our approach with other approaches to this, the traditional approach is to set a target to model the carbon tax required to meet that target and then impose a mechanism usually with a three or four letter acronym to impose that cost on all Australians. That's about raising the cost of traditional energy sources and traditional technologies. Our approach is quite different. We're looking at the customer and technology trends shaping those trends to our advantage. And on the back of that, ensuring we have a portfolio of technologies that can deliver the outcome we want to deliver, which is net zero by 2050. Now this is not new for Australians or for people all over the world. The march of technology is an extraordinary one, and it has solved problem after problem for us over an extended period of time. If you move to the next slide, you'll see some wonderful illustrations if you look at the cost of transistors over time. We've seen dramatic reductions over decade after decade, and as a result, once those costs get to a certain point, you see explosive growth, non-linear explosive growth of the technology. We've seen exactly that same pattern with solar. Solar costs have consistently since the early 70s come down at four per cent or more a year. Every year. Year on year. We've seen them coming down, coming down, coming down. For that first 30 years from the early 70s to the early 2000s, one gigawatt was adopted. The next 10 years we saw 100 gigawatts. The last 10 years through to 2022, we're expecting to see a thousand gigawatts.
So that's how low emissions technologies advance. We're seeing similar reductions in costs in other technologies. And one example of which we have is obviously a priority technology in the technology investment roadmap is clean hydrogen, where we've set a goal of under $2 per kilogram. And as we get to that cost competitiveness, that roadmap goal, we know, we'll see explosive growth in the deployment of clean hydrogen. We, as Australia, have an opportunity to be a world leader in the adoption of blue and green hydrogen. Now the core levers in the plan are investment in that portfolio of technologies, and if we go to the next page, you'll see in addition to that, we're providing incentives, not penalties, through the emission reduction mechanism that we set up a number of years ago. But we're also seeing rapid growth in private demand for credits, for abatement credits. And with that, we see great potential for the use of offsets, whether it's in soil carbon, land sequestration, carbon capture and storage and high integrity offsets with our neighbours here in the Asia Pacific enabling that investment in infrastructure, information and standards on that information to inform customer choice and regular reviews that the PM has talked about.
I'll skip over the next slide, which takes that into further detail, but that's in your plan. But central to this is the $20 billion investment the government is making in that technology portfolio. We are confident that that will deliver an additional $60 to $100 billion of state government and private sector investment in research, deployment and demonstration and commercialisation. At the heart of the plan is getting to the goals in technology investment roadmap. And if we move to the next page, you'll see those goals getting the cost of hydrogen under $2 a kilogram. Energy storage to under long duration energy storage to under $100 a megawatt hour. Steel, aluminium carbon capture and storage soil carbon, we have added for this year and additional technology goal, which is ultra low cost solar below $15 per megawatt hour. This is a technology where Australia has played a leadership role for many, many years. We can continue to into the future and that goal will be crucial not only to Australia meeting its goals, our goals, but for other countries around the world. By applying those technologies across various sectors, we can see how emissions will come down through choice through customers choosing those technologies. And you see on the next page that the various technologies I've just outlined across different sectors electricity, transport, industry, agriculture and the land sector drives down emissions between now and 2050 based on the goals and the timeframes in that previous slide. And that puts Australia in a position to lead and shape not just our own emissions reduction, but emissions reductions for others in our customers around the world and at the same time, strengthen our economy.
This is the right plan for Australia. To summarise the outcomes from it, which you'll see in the plan. Australians $2,000 better off on average in 2050 compared with no Australian action. A gross national income which is 1.6 per cent higher. 62,000 new regional jobs in mining and heavy industry, and additional jobs over and above that in other sectors. No taxes or legislated targets or mechanisms. We won't be raising the price of electricity. Indeed, those technology goals put downward pressure on, and we certainly won't be putting industries, regions or jobs at risk.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when you, when you look at this plan and you, and the performance to this point, you make the argument that the economy's grown, exports have grown. How do you explain the Nationals position then, in that context, and doesn't the fact that the Deputy Prime Minister, he doesn't believe this, he told his party room he doesn't believe it, doesn't that undermine the very credibility of your plan?
PRIME MINISTER: This plan is 100 per cent supported by our Government, 100 per cent supported by our Government. It was resolved by Cabinet last night. What we've gone through as a Coalition and over over many weeks, but indeed over a longer period of time than that, is to bring us to this point where we recognise that what is happening around the world, we can't just let it happen to us. You know, in this debate, there are those who will say we'll be ruined if we don't and we will be ruined if we do. And what's important for Australia is we set that middle course, and that's what my Government’s doing. And it's a Coalition Government, and the plan has the full support of our Coalition partners. How do I know that? Because I know the difficult path they went on to get to this point. They have given their commitment in the Cabinet, as part of a Coalition. For 75 years, our Coalition has stood together and it's endured many things over that period of time, and I'm so pleased that our Coalition has proved strong in dealing with one of the most difficult issues, and what that should reassure Australians about, when it comes to us doing this is a Coalition - you all knew my view and the Liberal Party's view - what this says about the Coalition is we're united on getting this done because we agree together as a Coalition that this is the right plan for Australia. There is an alternative plan, which is not our plan. Well, to be fair, there isn't, because they haven't said what it is yet under the Labor Party. They've got a target without a plan. They've got not even a target for 2030, let alone a plan for 2050. They have a plan to legislate people, to mandate people. That's not our plan. Last time they did something about this in government, they taxed people. So, there is an alternative. It's not our alternative. And the Coalition is rock solid on pursuing this plan because this protects jobs, it protects livelihoods, and it protects a way of life for rural and regional Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has described Australia committing to net zero emissions by 2050 as heroic. Is it heroic or is it just the right thing to do? And the 62,000 new regional mining and heavy industry jobs, will that be facilitated by any particular carve outs to continue to allow diesel usage in heavy machinery? Where will those mining jobs particularly be?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I welcome the comments of my good friend, Prime Minister Johnson, and I wish him well for leading the COP26. One of the things that I think goes to the strength of relationship between Australia and the UK, between Boris and I, is Boris understands Australia. He understands that this is, this is a different challenge for Australia than to other countries. And, so, he understands the significance of this, and he and I have discussed it on many occasions and at length. And, so, he understands that this is an important decision for Australia in making our contribution and doing the right thing for our country first. And he understands we're making this decision in our national interest. And and he welcomes it. So, I appreciate what what Boris has said, but in answer to your question, no, it's the right thing to do. It's the right plan for Australia.
Now, on the other matters, I'll let Angus add add to that, but this is a whole of economy plan. We want everyone in our economy to participate in this plan, because what is happening around the world with the global economy, with the world's response to climate change, of course, that has impacts in Australia, and particularly in rural and regional areas. Of course it does. And between now and the next election, we’ll be outlining a series of further investments and things that will continue to strengthen our regions to ensure that they're successful, that they are successful as we move forward, not just in this area, but in so many other areas. But it is important that they're all participating in that - the agricultural sector, the resources sector, the transport sector, sectors, the manufacturing sector. I mean, a million Australians back in manufacturing jobs. Under Labor, they lost one in eight manufacturing jobs. We've restored those jobs. The Modern Manufacturing Initiative that the Minister is responsible for, this is about leveraging all of these plans - whether it's our skills agenda, our manufacturing agenda, our research and science agenda - it’s about pulling all of that together in a whole of government, whole of economy approach - our Ag2030 plan, our critical minerals plan. In fact, what we're doing with the Quad and what we're doing, I'll be sitting down with the ASEAN Australia Summit this week. We'll be talking about this. This is all about getting the whole country, realising the benefits, and dealing with the challenges. But Angus.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Well, there’s very significant job potential in the priority technologies we've chosen. We've chosen those for a reason, whether it's in the steel and iron ore supply chain, or the bauxite alumina aluminium supply chain, or indeed critical minerals that are supplying a number of those supply chains, whether it's lithium or nickel or copper. These are great opportunities for Australia. The key for us is to chase them. And that's exactly what we're doing as a Government - working with the private sector to do this. And we see enormous potential there. And as a Government, we are going to support those industries to create those jobs as best as we possibly can. And I'll tell you what, those jobs are there for the taking.
JOURNALIST: Perhaps for either Minister Taylor or yourself. Just on the technology roadmap - that 15 per cent of emissions reductions to be achieved by ASEAN developed technologies, are you prepared to hazard a guess as to what may, you know, be the frontrunners in that category? And secondly, secondly, when you announced this roadmap last year, I think you were forecast about $50 billion in co-investment. Today you’re saying 60 to 100. Can you explain is that because of the inclusion of ultra low cost solar, or is it something else?
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: So, the first thing I'd say is we are seeing more interest and co-investment from the private sector than we originally anticipated. So, we were conservative. If you look at what the CFC and ARENA is now seeing with co-investment, it's higher than we had originally anticipated. In answer to your other question, I'd just clarify what you said there, Phil. This is not technologies we don't necessarily know about. It may well be technologies that we know quite a lot about but have not yet got to the point where we can make them priority technologies. We can see a pathway to take the cost of hydrogen down to under $2 a kilogram. There's other technologies that are not yet at that point. Now, some examples, some examples of that would be low emissions cement. We know cement globally is is responsible for a significant significant emissions. It's a tough pathway. We know some of the things we can do there. There's technologies emerging that can help with that, and we're investing in some of those. Feed supplements is another one. Again, early days, we’ve still got a long way to go on this. But, so, there's a number of these technologies we're aware of, they were laid out in our Technology Investment Roadmap last year, and we'll continue to invest in those.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will Australia be updating its nationally determined contribution to include the net zero emissions by 2050 target?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
JOURNALIST: Good. Thank you. And on the 30 to 35 per cent projection for reduction of emissions by 2030, is that based on the Technology Investment Roadmap target being met? And, if that's the case, why not adopt them as an official target?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’ll let Angus particularly deal with the technicalities of of the, of the projection, and they will also be included in our NDCs that are taken forward. That's what we expect to achieve. Our target will remain as it is, because that's the commitment I gave to the Australian people. It's as simple as that. That's what I said our target would be in this term. That's the target for 2030. I said it would be 26 to 28 per cent. I said we'd meet and beat it. It was a, it was a floor, not a ceiling, and it it enabled, I think, the ambition that we have had over the course of this term to ensure that we're we’re we're at overachieving on that target. I remember during the last election campaign, those of you who joined us on the trail, I mean, you were saying we wouldn't meet it, that this wouldn't be achieved, and our opponents were saying, oh, that won't be able to be done. Impossible. Guess what? They said that about our 2020 targets as well, and they said they wouldn't be achieved. We achieved them. We're going to achieve this one. In fact, we're going to exceed it. But what is important is that I act consistent with the mandate I had from the Australian people. They rejected a 45 per cent target at the last election. They endorsed a meet and beat target of 26 to 28 per cent, which is what we've done. But Angus, on ...
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Just to answer that other other question, yes, this includes the early benefits of the Technology Investment Roadmap through to 2030.
JOURNALIST: Can we get a projection about that?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you go to the election seeking a new mandate for a 20, new 2030 target? You won’t? Ok. And just on modelling, you were very tough on Bill Shorten for not releasing modelling on his 2030 target the last election ...
PRIME MINISTER: It would be hard for him to release modelling he didn't have.
JOURNALIST: Well, there’s no modelling here either. We see some outcome …
PRIME MINISTER: No, there is modelling here, and yes, it'll be released in due course. Today's about the plan. We'll be releasing modelling at another time.
JOURNALIST: Just on 2030, Pacific neighbours have said there'll be catastrophe if Australia doesn’t set an example …
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry I can’t quite hear you. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: Pacific neighbours have said there will be a catastrophe if Australia doesn't set an example and commit to harder 2030 cuts. What do you say to those neighbouring countries now that you've appeased the National Party and left their futures effectively under threat in low lying areas?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I actually just don't accept the premise of your question at all. I think you're wrong. What we've done is produced the right plan for Australia, and I think it's the right plan for our region. I think, I know our regional partners - I was talking to the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea on the weekend - I know they will strongly welcome the fact that Australia has now committed to net zero emissions by 2050. That was one of the key items of discussion we had at the last time we were able to gather together at a Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Retreat, and I gave an undertaking at that meeting that we would consider that issue carefully. And we have and we have confirmed that that is now our position. And they will welcome strongly the fact that we believe we will be able to achieve a 35 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030. That is something we actually think we are going to achieve. As I said, the actions of Australia speak louder than the words of others. There will be lots of words in Glasgow, but I'll be able to point to the actions of Australia and the achievements of Australia, and I think that's very important. The credibility of Australia's position is confirmed by our record. We've cut it already by 20 per cent and grown our economy by 45 per cent. New Zealand, Canada, United States, other countries - they can't speak to that. And there'll be other countries that turn up in Glasgow and they'll say they have targets and they’ll say they have ambitions. But you won't find the same plan. You won't find the same detailed plan that we're releasing here today. What you need, I always said that we would not commit to this unless I said we could have a plan to achieve it. And that's what we're delivering today. Riles.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the last six prime ministers who held press conferences announcing climate policies either lost subsequent elections or were dumped by their own parties. What gives you the confidence that you'll be the first to argue through a climate policy and survive?
PRIME MINISTER: I've brought our Government together on this. Our Government is committed to this. Our Government has come from difficult places, had hard discussions, but we've worked through it together, and we've come to this position. We've respected each other. We've listened to each other. We've constructed over a long period of time a careful plan that is conscious of the impacts and the opportunities, and enables Australians to keep doing what they're doing and and do even more, by encouraging them through the measures that we've got. We've set out clear principles which we will honour. You will have noticed this about how our Government operates - when we set out our economic response to COVID, I first set out the principles by which we would do that, and we're doing the same thing here. Those principles will guide all of our decisions. Technology, not taxes. Choices, not mandates. Ensuring we have a portfolio of technologies that get us there at the end of the day. To ensure that we keep the costs down and have the balance between reliability and affordability with emissions reduction. And, most importantly, to go back, the question was asked about our Pacific partners - a credibility on transparency and the authenticity of the of the of the credits and of the emissions reduction reporting that exists. Australia, as Angus said, has set clear marks on this. And one of the things that we raised at the Quad recently when I was in the United States, and I've discussed regularly with the ASEAN partners and will indeed this week, as well as those in the Pacific, is there will be, of course, an appetite around the world for high integrity credits, high integrity credits. Now, Australia will be an obvious place for that. There is no country that you can rely more on the integrity of any credits coming from any country than Australia. We are premium quality, top of the line, best in the in class when it comes to these high integrity credits. Now, we want to work with our Pacific Island nation partners, with our ASEAN friends, and those throughout the Indo-Pacific, working with the United States and particularly Japan, working with India, to ensure that we can lift the integrity of these credits, because I think that's been a real problem with the whole credit scheme. I think it's been, I think it's really undermined confidence. And, you know, it's not about the if or when, it's about the how, and the world has to start focusing on the how, and our Australian way focuses on the how. And I think that's the leadership that the world debate on this actually needs. The world has to focus on the how.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when do we see the details of your peace settlement with Barnaby Joyce on climate change? And secondly, if I could ask a question of the Minister, just on the, your graph says that you have a 91 to 97 per cent reduction in emissions in the electricity sector. For the common person, does that mean that by 2050 that electricity production in Australia will be zero emissions?
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: No. It'll be close, but it won't be all the way there. Well, so you've got to balance up a grid, and the grid has to have some dispatchable generation. The bulk energy requirement will be coming from zero emission sources, but dispatchability remains a very, very important issue.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] that's gas, but no coal.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Well, you know, I'm not going to tell you what the exact composition is of the sources of dispatchability. But gas is clearly going to be part of the mix in providing that dispatchability. And that's an important part of making sure we've got the balance right. The last piece of emissions reduction in every sector and in every economy is always the hardest and proves to be the most expensive if you don't go about it the right way. And that's why offsets are such an important part of our plan.
PRIME MINISTER: And in relation to your other question, there is only one plan and the policies of the Government are the policies of the whole Government. And what has been important in ensuring that we're able to come to agreement on this is a couple of things. First one is to ensure that we have a proper mechanism through the Productivity Commission to ensure that the goal of this policy, which is not just to reduce emissions, but to ensure the socioeconomic health of our country and particularly our rural and regional areas, that that is something that we will continue to scrutinise every five years. First one done by the end of '23. Secondly, to ensure that our policies and our plans can include and ensure the activities of all of our sectors, particularly the agricultural sector, are recognised and are included and are able to be pursued. In addition, it's important that we're cutting the red tape when it comes to ensuring that we can get the projects that need to happen around this country can happen around this country. And that is something we're already pursuing in the legislative programme in the Senate right now. We have the first tranche of legislation in the Senate right now. And it's also about ensuring that we are investing in the regions, so they can take advantage of these opportunities. Because we understand that the impacts of the world's response has their impacts in Australia. That is understood. All of our policies will come out before the next election. In particular, there will be a budget next year, is our intention. But either way, all of our policies.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: We'll make decisions about that closer to that time. But my point about that is all of our policies, our investments in the regions, additional investments across a whole range of areas, they will be outlined as they have been outlined over these many years since the last election. So it will all be out there for everyone to see about what we're investing in, how we're investing in it. Because at the end of the day, now that we're past the "by when" and the "if", and now that we're into the "how", what this is a real choice of now, is the economic plan of the Government, the Liberals and the Nationals, to steer Australia through what will be a challenging time with the global response to climate change and how we intend to realise those opportunities, that economic plan to secure Australia's future through this time, or the economic plan, if they come up with one, of the Labor Party. And so at the election, there will be a clear choice on who do people trust with the right economic plan to see Australia through this. That's what it's all about at the end of the day. If you want to protect lives and livelihoods, as we have through COVID, if you want to protect livelihoods and the way of life of Australians, particularly in rural and regional areas, then you want a plan that has been developed by people, like in the Liberals and the Nationals who haven't just willy nilly signed up to this on a whim. That haven't just committed to a target without a plan and have chased the cheers of those for whatever purpose. You want a party and parties that have actually considered this deeply and have wrestled with it. And you've seen us wrestle with it. I think that is a badge of authenticity on this plan that demonstrates just how hard we have worked and wrestled with the difficult issues that Australians wrestle with too. Cutting emissions, protecting jobs and livelihoods. You've got to balance that, and that's what we've done. Kath.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, just a bit of housekeeping first before I get to the detailed question. Did you say a moment ago you would release the modelling?
PRIME MINISTER: Eventually, yes.
JOURNALIST: Eventually meaning when?
PRIME MINISTER: Some time, we're focussing on the plan today, there'll be another time when we'll release the modelling.
JOURNALIST: And projections, are we seeing the projections?
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: The projections are out today, you just saw them.
PRIME MINISTER: The outcomes of them is actually, you've got it in the document.
JOURNALIST: And can I just ask then, on 30 to 35 Angus, what is that band? I don't understand.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: So 35 is including the technology investment roadmap, the 30 is the traditional approach.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] sorry one more, one more, sorry to be greedy. Just if I understand the maths in this plan in terms of the abatement path to 2050, up to 50 per cent of it is offsets, technological breakthroughs that aren't specified and global technology trends that also aren't specified. Now PM, a minute ago you said quite rightly, we're on to the "how" now rather than the "why", but there's an enormous chunk of this plan where the "how" is entirely unclear.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: To pick up on that, we've clearly specified the sources of offsets. We're getting significant offsets now in native vegetation and what farmers are doing with their land. We're starting to see very significant offsets emerging on soil carbon. We've got 90 million hectares of productive agricultural land in this country. It is already a carbon sink. It can be a much bigger one and you'll see in the plan detail on where we think those opportunities are. They are very, very significant. Carbon capture and storage offers a big opportunity as well. Again, you'll see in the plan some of the areas where we see great potential for that, particularly through the production of hydrogen. So we've been very clear about where we think there's offsets are going to come from and there's potential as well, as the Prime Minister said, to get credits in our region, working with our Pacific neighbours, high integrity credits and helping them with those high integrity credits. The technologies which we haven't prioritised that we know are developing around the world are very well specified in the technology investment roadmap. Low emissions vehicles are central to that. And the transport sector is not one where we're leading on the supply chains, but we can certainly adopt those technologies and provide inputs to them like lithium. And so we do understand well how those technologies are evolving. So there is a large chunk of what you described there that is very well specified.
PRIME MINISTER: I might add to that. This is exactly the point we made, as Greg Hunt reminded us, when it came to 2020. We made the same point. I mean, if we're going to sit here and think we know everything that's going to happen between now and 2050, well, of course that's, I mean, you're not suggesting that. I don't think anyone else is suggesting that. I mean, if we don't think there's been a rapid development in technology on handheld devices in the last 10 years, then we must have been, someone must have been living on a different planet to the rest of us. That rate of technological advance is a given. It is actually a given in the modern world. And we've seen it in our own lives. We've seen it in the way that it's revolutionised the economy globally. And to not think that that is going to play a role over the next 30 years, that would be, I think, the more surprising assumption. Not the assumption that says that here are a suite of technologies which account for 40 per cent under our technology investment roadmap, a further 15 per cent that are established global technology trends. Established. And then assuming on top of that, that 15 per cent will come from the evolution and the momentum that is generated by those earlier technology developments, that is what has happened time immemorial, time immemorial. That is a very safe, it's probably one of the safest assumptions you can make, that the rapid escalation of technology will continue to drive these costs down. Anyone who'd walk into any JB Hi-Fi store anywhere in the country today and when they walked in there five years ago, will know the change in the price of what they were buying today to what it was five years ago. And the increase in its capacity and its capabilities and all of those things. That is the world we know. This is a plan for the world that we know and where it's heading.
JOURNALIST: PM, the cost is already $20 billion from what's been announced. What's the cost of this entire plan in terms of budget outlays when you look at all the things you need to do, not just those you're funding already, but those you'll need to fund?
PRIME MINISTER: Well they're already set out, David, in multiple Budgets. Because the plan draws together everything from our Modern Manufacturing Fund, we've got $300 million in carbon capture, use and storage, we've got $2 billion for the critical minerals projects, we've got $464 million for the clean hydrogen industrial hubs, we've got $1 billion in the Recycling Modernisation Fund. There's $550 million in the modern manufacturing strategy, there's $3.5 billion in the national water grid, $1.4 billion actually in Building Better Regions Fund. There's almost $2 billion in the Great Barrier Reef long term sustainability plan. There's the Ag2030 goal, there's the $5 billion Drought Fund. There's $6.4 billion into skills and training. And so it goes on. I mean, the Budget, the Budget is about achieving this plan and particularly on this plan, there is $20 billion, pretty much all of which gets spent in rural and regional areas to achieve the low emissions energy targets which are set out in this plan to achieving net zero by 2050. But what all of that does is supercharge everything else we're already doing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, your new forecast gets you to 35 per cent reduction. It's not clear to me what accounts for that improvement on your old 26 to 28 per cent. Could you explain that? And how much of it is because New South Wales has upgraded its own 2030 net target? And the second question is, your forecast suggests that agriculture will contribute up to 36 per cent to your net zero by 2050. Does that mean that they haven't been carved out of having to do some of the heavy lifting?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, as I said at the start, this is a whole of economy plan.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: So just answering that first question, well, actually I'll go to the second one first, the agricultural one. Look, agriculture has enormous potential to provide offsets, and I mentioned that earlier from Katherine's question. And that is a critical piece of this. We see it as a way to abate, particularly those very hard areas where you've got the highest cost abatement. So when you get to the end, the last piece in any industry is always the hardest piece. The last piece in any economy is always the hardest piece. And that's why those offsets that we can get from agriculture are so important. In relation to your question about the historical achievement and where we sit on the 35 per cent, there's been three factors that have really driven that. The first is the rapid uptake of renewables, particularly solar, in recent years. So we're world leaders on solar. One in four houses. No other country in the world is at that level. We've seen extraordinary investments, world-beating investments in renewables increasingly dominated by solar in the last couple of years, and that has played an important role. Energy efficiency has played an important role, the role of business and households in driving energy efficiency, using new and emerging technologies. And the third piece is changes in land use. And of course, the role that farmers have played in that has made a very significant contribution.
PRIME MINISTER: We'll finish up with the Courier Mail because [inaudible].
JOURNALIST: What do you say to those regional Queenslanders who in 2019 found themselves voting for the Coalition for the first time on the back of its criticism of Labor's policy and the support for coal? And is there room for the Collinsville coal-fired power station, is there room for the Collinsville coal fired power station under your net zero plan?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I'll say is we've kept the faith. We said we wouldn't have a 45 per cent emissions reduction target for 2030. That was the wrong plan for Australia. It is still the wrong plan for Australia. And let me tell you why. And none other than Bill Gates has expressed his view, as have many others. And that is, if you seek to mandate and force to 2030, you run the risk of diverting resources from these important longer term technologies, which have much longer lead times that will be essential and critical to meeting your 2050 objectives. What we've said about where we believe we'll be at 2030 at 35 per cent down, including the technology investment roadmap outcomes, is that path. It is not a linear path. It is not a straight line from here to net zero in 2050. That's not what the curve looks like. In fact, we're already 20 percent down the way. We're not starting at the start. We're already down the path. Australians are already doing this, and the technology path that will take us to 2050 will have a curve on it. It is not a straight line. And so we want to ensure that all the resources that we are putting into this as part of our plan are designed on achieving that and being able to do it without having to tax people, to mandate people, without seeing the lights go out, without seeing the purchase of low integrity credits, if there are credits at all. But ensuring that the actions that we're taking and the things that we're doing are fair dinkum. That they're real and they actually make a difference. And you know what, I'm looking forward to discussing this with others overseas because I think the Australian way shows a way for other countries to follow. You know, the challenges that we face here in Australia, particularly with the nature of our economy, are not that dissimilar to those being faced in Indonesia or in Vietnam or in India or places like that or indeed, China. And you know, if you really want to deal with this problem, it's not good enough to just tax people in developed countries and think that fixes the problem. Because I can tell you, China's emissions will keep going up. John Kerry said this himself in one of his first press conferences. He said America could reduce their emissions to zero and if China's emissions kept going up, we don't solve the problem. So we want to solve the problem. If you want to solve the problem, then you need scaled, affordable, low emissions technologies, running industries, creating jobs, not just here in Australia, but in Indonesia, Vietnam, China and India and other countries. And if you don't do that, that won't change. I think that's a clear message that developing countries have been sent. That won't change. We need to demonstrate and work with partners, as we indeed are with India in particular, with our technology partnership that we're able to bring together. And Angus' fine work there to ensure that we should be concluding that very shortly with Narendra. So that is the way forward on this. Technology is the way forward. Now, on the other matter that you raised, the feasibility study is not due back until the end of June, but any investments that people wish to make, well, they have to meet the necessary planning and other regulatory approvals for them to go ahead, and they have to make sense to them commercially. And if they stack up, they stack up.
JOURNALIST: Including a coal fired power station?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, to the extent that they're able to be developed in Australia and they stack up and they comply with the environmental laws that exist in states and territories and receive the necessary approvals. I mean, legal investments in this country are still legal. This is my point. What we're seeking to do is enable people to do the things they want to do because they want to achieve this. Australians do want to achieve this. Australian businesses want to achieve this. Australian industry want to achieve this. Why? Because they know what's going on. There is, of course, a very significant environmental and important environmental objective in what we're doing. But there is also a very strong economic imperative for our country. There will be significant investment that will find its way into these technologies over the next 30 years, and I'm not going to put a blockage on that. What I'm doing today is removing any blockage to that and saying we're going to do this. And if you want to do this with us, then we're the place you want to do it. Because Australia, particularly when it comes to hydrogen, is seen as the best, if not the best, the best, I would argue we are, opportunity to develop that technology and that is what will get us there. So thank you very much. There'll be other opportunities down the track, but I appreciate your attention today.
Virtual Remarks, ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2021
25 October 2021
PRIME MINSTER: G’day everyone, from Australia. I’m pleased to be joining the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.
I thank our hosts and recognise His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, the Guest of Honour.
Australia enjoys a close friendship with Brunei, and I really want to thank His Majesty the Sultan for his steady leadership at this very difficult time.
I had the opportunity to thank His Majesty personally recently in one of our recent calls.
Sadly, the pandemic has kept us apart again this year.
Yet the relationships between our governments, businesses and people - they’re as strong as ever.
During this time of uncertainty, we do stand together - as partners - in facing the economic, health and environmental challenges facing our world, and especially our region.
ASEAN is a long-time, valued partner of Australia.
Our futures are intertwined.
Your growth underpins our prosperity.
Your stability is fundamental to our own.
And our enduring relationship is critical to an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific region.
I am here to affirm that Australia strongly supports ASEAN’s centrality.
ASEAN and its forums are an essential pillar of our engagement with the Indo-Pacific.
Our interests align closely with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.
Our partnership with ASEAN is one that we are always seeking to strengthen.
And we want our businesses to invest in the region with confidence, and for yours to do the same here in Australia.
Today, I will speak briefly about our partnership and how we are responding to the health, economic and environmental challenges we collectively face.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of what we can achieve when we work together.
We all know that the way forward from here is vaccines.
Access to safe and effective vaccines is the highest priority for Indo-Pacific nations.
And Australia is stepping up to help our friends, stand with them, our neighbours, and those in need.
Together with our Quad partners - the United States, India and Japan - we have pledged to donate at least 1.2 billion vaccine doses globally.
And Australia has committed 60 million doses to the Indo-Pacific by the end of 2022.
Already, we’ve delivered two million doses directly to Southeast Asia, and we expect to share millions and millions more by the end of this year.
We’ve also contributed $130 million to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, which so far has delivered over 33 million doses to Southeast Asia.
We’ve committed $21 million to support the establishment of the ASEAN Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases.
And we’re also combatting vaccine misinformation, we’re training health workers, we’re providing much-needed medical equipment and expertise across Southeast Asia.
These investments are an addition to the $500 million to support new security, economic and development cooperation with Southeast Asia, which I announced at the ASEAN-Australia Summit last year.
And we’re working towards safely restoring international travel, which will be vital for reinvigorating all of our economies.
We all want our economies to rebound strongly from COVID-19.
And we all know that this can be accelerated through trade and investment under an open, rules-based international system.
This makes agreements, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, more important than ever.
These agreements bring together the shared economic weight of ASEAN and the region’s other major economies.
Through our $46 million Australia’s Regional Trade for Development and our Digital Standards Initiatives, we are working with ASEAN to support implementation of RCEP, including by bringing a larger focus to e-commerce and digital trade across the region.
We are also working bilaterally to forge new agreements and deepen existing arrangements with regional partners such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore, to boost two way trade and open up new frontiers in the green economy.
This is a vibrant and dynamic region, and we want to ensure the opportunities and benefits of trade continue to flow unimpeded, and that supply chains remain open and connected.
At the same time, we’re also very focused on the global challenge of climate change and the world’s transition to a new energy economy.
We know reducing emissions - domestically and internationally - will require practical, scalable and commercially viable technologies.
And that’s why we are making major investments to drive our energy transition, including around $20 billion to commercialise promising new technologies like clean hydrogen, green steel, long-duration energy storage and carbon capture.
We expect this will leverage some $80 billion in total investment by 2030.
And this will help drive our energy transition.
And it will help our friends and neighbours too - including our ASEAN nations - to transition to secure and affordable low-emissions technologies that can drive development and jobs within the ASEAN region.
As part of this work, we’ve agreed to pool the collective resources and expertise of Quad partners - the United States, Japan and India - to work with other Indo-Pacific partners to build the reliable and resilient supply chains needed to support the region’s energy transition.
And I look forward to inviting your best and brightest clean energy experts and minds to Australia’s Clean Energy Summit in early 2022.
I want to assure you Australia is embracing the opportunities of the new energy economy, as the world accelerates its pursuit of net-zero emissions.
And, today, we join ASEAN member countries in looking to the future with great optimism, confident that together we can meet the challenges before us all.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Press Conference - Sydney, NSW
22 October 2021
MR ALAN JOYCE AC, CEO OF QANTAS: It's great to have you all here at Hangar 96. We have a Qantas 787 behind us and it's great to welcome all the Qantas staff that are here today to hear what is, for us, probably the biggest and the best news that we have had in two years. We have gone through an unbelievable 20 months, so it's really great that we have the staff, the aircraft, our engineers, our pilots, our cabin crew here to hear this amazing news. I'm also very pleased to have the Prime Minister of Australia and the Premier of New South Wales. This is big news for the country and it's also big news for New South Wales in particular. As I said, this 20 months is probably the darkest period in Qantas' 100 year history. It's meant that we've had to ground aircraft, stand down people and restructure the business. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. It's very clear that because Australians have rolled up their sleeves and taken the jab, we can see that light. We're getting more aircraft back in the air. We're starting more international operations and very importantly, we're getting more of our people back to work.
In 10 days’ time, one of these 787s will depart Sydney and go to Darwin on its way London. That's the first time since March of last year that Qantas has operated long haul international regular services. And it's very fitting that in the final days of our 100th birthday that we start to count the kangaroo route again. A route that's defined Qantas for nearly 60-70 years. And a few days later, we have a flight going from Sydney to Los Angeles. Before COVID, Qantas was the largest international carrier operating in and out of Los Angeles. So having that starting again is a great step on our recovery back, to a post-COVID world. And all of this is possible because of the federal government's announcement that on the 1st of November, we'll start opening our borders again. And the New South Wales announcement that Australians fully vaccinated do not have to do quarantine in this State. And there has been a phenomenal reaction that we've seen to it. First of all, we've now moved those flights earlier because of that, and we've added 20 flights to London in particular. And demand has been massive. In a few hours, a large number of those flights sold out. There's extremely strong demand for people wanting to get back into Australia for Christmas. We've also seen now, of four of the last five weeks that Qantas's sales are bigger on the international than they have been on domestic. That hasn't happened since COVID began. And our frequent flyers have reacted unbelievably well to these announcements. Last Tuesday was the biggest day of redemptions in Qantas's history. Half a billion points were used for people to travel.
So it is very clear, there is pent up demand. There's massive demand for Australians wanting to see their family and relatives. There's massive demand for loved ones wanting to get together for Christmas. There's massive demand for people wanting to take that holiday, that they've been looking forward to for nearly two years. And the result of that demand, we are making a few announcements today that are amazingly positive for our people, amazingly positive for our customers. First of all, we're announcing that our flagship aircraft the A380 will come forward and the first one will arrive back in Australia on the 25th of December, a great Christmas present for our people. We will have a second one in place so that by April we can start Sydney-LA again, a daily service with the A380. Now, only three months ago we were planning to keep those aircraft in the desert until December 20. That's how fast things are moving and how optimistic we are to meet the demand, that we're bringing two of them forward into April of next year, one of them before Christmas, for training and crew.
Secondly, we're announcing that we're bringing forward the start date of five important markets. We're bringing Singapore operations from Sydney, forward to the end of November. We're bringing forward services to Fiji to early December. And we're bringing forward services to South Africa, to Jo'burg to early January. And to Phuket and Bangkok to middle of January. Some of those services are being brought forward by over three months. Again because we expect there is significant demand for it. And we are in dialogue with the Indonesian government and the opening of Bali for Australians that are fully vaccinated. So that you don't have to go into quarantine. Jetstar was the largest carrier operating into Bali. Australians were the largest visitors before COVID. And it'll be phenomenal news for our Jetstar people, if we can operate into Bali before Christmas and we're working with the Indonesian Government to try and do that.
We're also, very importantly, announcing that we're starting a new service from Sydney to Darwin to Delhi. This is the first time in 10 years that Qantas has gone back into the Indian market. We have been used to flying into India over the last few months, on behalf of the Australian government we've done 60 repat flights. I'd like in particular to thank our crew who are here today, a lot of them have been doing a massive amount of repat flights. Some of our crew have been continuously in quarantine. They have been separated from their families to allow Australian families to get together, to allow vulnerable Australians to get back to into the country. And talking to them earlier, they're extremely excited that they have the opportunity to fly to Delhi on a regular basis, and that service will start in early December.
We're also talking to Boeing about bringing forward three brand new aircraft [inaudible] and try to bring them forward to April of next year, which will grow our 787 fleet to allow us to do even more flying, but probably the most important part of the announcement we're making today is the implications this has for our people. We believe that domestic borders will be opened up. We've seen announcements from Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, and that gives us confidence to get to a hundred percent of pre-COVID levels domestically in January and up to 120 percent of pre-COVID levels by April. So we're proud to announce today that all of our domestic crews that have been stood down, 5,000 people, will be back at work in early December. Great news for them and their families. And the 6,000 international crew, some of which have been stood down since last March, will also be given the opportunity to work for us and start working again in early December. We will need the A380 crew back to do the training needed to get the operation up and running.
And again, I would say all of this is possible because of what the state and federal government have done. And in particular, I want to thank the federal government and the Prime Minister for the assistance packages that they've given our people. JobKeeper and then the IAS package, which has allowed those international employees to remain connected with Qantas. It's allowed them to retain that skill set. It's allowed us to really activate these aircraft earlier than we would have otherwise, if we had of lost those employees. So thank you Prime Minister for that amazing programme that's got us through this. And can I thank both of you for your leadership in opening up the borders and thank the Premier of New South Wales in particular for moving to what every other global city in the world has moved to, which is that there's no quarantine for vaccinated passengers coming in, that has given New South Wales a leading advantage and that has made New South Wales our gateway to the world. We hope that the other states will follow soon so that we can start operations out of those states internationally, like the commitment here to New South Wales. So again, thank you for being here today. I'm really pleased for our people that we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I'm really pleased for our customers that they can welcome back international travel and a significant amount of international travel from November. And I am going to hand over to the Prime Minister to make a few comments. Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Alan. And to the Premier of New South Wales, Dominic Perrottet, it is great to be here with you mate. This is a wonderful day. Australia is ready for take-off. You can see it all around us. You can see the staff readying themselves. The ground crew have been doing the work they need to do, the maintenance teams. And we're ready for take-off. I want to thank in particular the Premier of New South Wales for the decision they've taken, working together with the federal government to bring us to this very important day.
But I've got to tell you. The ground staff, the ground crew that is really getting Australia to take off today is the Australian people, who have gone out there and kept their part of the deal and have been getting vaccinated. Australia is en route to be one of the most vaccinated countries in the world and here in New South Wales, as well as in the ACT and Victoria charging in behind as well. We are seeing those vaccination rates continue to rise. The national plan was all about opening up Australia safely so we can remain safely open. And that's what we're seeing here today. And that means planes get back in the sky. It means people go and get their hair cut again, as I'm sure they're doing in large numbers today, down in Melbourne and across Victoria. It means that families are coming together again. It means kids are going back to school. It means the reunification of our country, which I know we have all been so keen to see. And that begins with this and that begins with the decisions that have been taken here by the New South Wales Government, which I have no doubt will be quickly followed by those in other states, as we're already seeing in Victoria today. The Premier of Victoria today will be making some further announcements and I'm looking forward to that. I know the Premier of Tasmania will be making further announcements today and I'm looking forward to those. I won't pre-empt those other than to say that the national plan is working. Australia is coming together. And we realise the great efforts of the Australian people in rolling up their sleeves, so we can move forward together and re-engage.
And one of the biggest achievements that will flow from that is people will be back in work, businesses will be open again and here at Qantas, who've done such an extraordinary job as well as Virgin and other airlines in finding their way through what has been an incredibly difficult time. And I want to pay credit to you Alan, and to Richard as chair of the board and the whole team here at Qantas and Jetstar, for the amazing job you've done in keeping your team together. Because one of the things we always knew going through this pandemic, that this day would come and we had to be ready for this day. And that means our planes had to be ready for take-off. It meant that our industries had to be ready to open again and to move forward again. That's what JobKeeper was about. That's what the Commonwealth Disaster Payment was all about. That's what the business support package, that we did together here with the New South Wales Government, which the Treasurer-then and Premier now, and I together with Treasurer Frydenberg and the former Premier put together to keep Australian businesses and New South Wales businesses ready to go. So we have prepared for this day. Australians have prepared for this day and I'm looking forward to people being able to come back to Australia and leaving Australia as well and enjoying the things they did before.
One last point I'd make before handing over to the Premier is this. We are in the final stages of completing an arrangement with the Singapore government. I was in a position, as you know, some months ago, I met with the Prime Minister of Singapore, Prime Minister Lee in Singapore, to set up a new arrangement which will see our borders open more quickly to Singapore. We anticipate that being able to be achieved within the next week or so as we would open up to more visa class holders coming out of Singapore. We will see that occur, those ports here in Australia will be open the same way as they are here in Sydney, and we would expect to see that align pretty much with the timetable that Qantas has announced today regarding when they'll have flights to Singapore. So that's another further example of how we're taking this agenda forward. How we're taking Australia, we're opening up.
To all those who are down there in Victoria today. Enjoy the day. It's going to be tremendous being reunited again and doing all the things you've been looking forward to doing. You've worked so hard for that, as they have here in New South Wales, in the ACT and together the country will open safely and stay safely open. And the person who has made such a huge contribution to us achieving that and following the national plan, is the Premier of New South Wales, Dom Perrottet.
PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES THE HON. DOMINIC PERROTTET: Thank you, Scott. It's great to be here with the Prime Minister and with Alan Joyce. Today is a very exciting day for our State and I think it's very much a turning point in the pandemic. And this is all about providing hope and instilling confidence right across our State. The changes that we made recently in relation to hotel quarantine, by removing that for fully vaccinated people globally. And [inaudible], with the federal government really shifts the direction for the State going forward. As the Prime Minister said, we want to open up as quickly as possible as safely as possible, and that's exactly what we're doing. To see the excitement of the crew here today, many, many of whom have been out of work for a long time, this goes back to March last year, and whilst it's been very difficult for businesses right across the state. The east, west, north and south, right across New South Wales, particularly aviation, has been hit hard. But today we're on the runway recovery here in New South Wales. To see thousands of jobs now come back, to meet the crew who for the first time will be back to work after taking on different jobs, doing different things. It's been an incredibly difficult time, but I think this announcement today from Alan and Qantas and the team, the Prime Minister speaking about Singapore really shows that there is hope. There is change coming, and it's a turning point in this pandemic.
We've always wanted, here in New South Wales, to strike that balance in terms of making sure people are safe and at the same time opening up safely. As the Prime Minister has said, when we do open up, to continue to remain open in a safe way. That's exactly what we're doing in this State. The recovery plan we announced yesterday, a $3 billion investment to make sure the economy continues to fire out of this pandemic. We don't just want to recover, we want to bounce back stronger here in our State. I am incredibly confident that's what will occur. Confidence here in New South Wales at the moment is sky high, we had some numbers out earlier this week that shows we have the highest business confidence in the history of our state, and that’s because we've got the measures right by releasing restrictions in the way that we have, I think has ensured that businesses, consumer confidence is there. You know, the people of New South Wales have made enormous sacrifices like everyone around the country. But I think today's a real turning point. We want fellow Australians who are returning home to come home as quickly as possible and get as many home for Christmas, what a great thing that would be. And then we’ll move on to tourism, international students - these are very important parts of the New South Wales economy, our largest two service exports that have been substantially [inaudible]. And, importantly, there are tens of thousands of people right across our state who rely on these important industries to provide for their families and put food on the table. So, it’s very pleasing to be here today. It’s an exciting day. It’s great to meet many of the crew and see how excited they are about coming back to work, about the state going forward. And I particularly want to thank Alan for working with the Government, because I think if you look through this period of time, it hasn't just been a partnership between the Commonwealth and State Government - working with industry, particularly the aviation industry, providing financial support to help get them through. As Alan has said, it's been probably, as he said, the darkest day, darkest days for Qantas in their entire history. That’s true for the entire aviation industry. But, today’s an important day as we get back on track on the runway to recovery.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES THE HON. DOMINIC PERROTTET: We’re working very closely with the Victorian Government in relation to that. In fact, I was speaking to Dan Andrews last night. We want to open up as quickly as possible, but the challenge that we have is that we’ve set that 1 November date for travel between city and regional New South Wales, as those vaccination rates increase. But I spoke to the Premier last night. We want to have that border open as quickly as possible, and we’ll have something to say about that shortly.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Yep. Sure. Yeah the Premier and I are absolutely on the same page. We spoke [inaudible]. You’re right, from the 1st of November if you are Australian residents, citizens and their immediate family, and I can confirm that that immediate family will include the parents of Australian residents and citizens. And I know, particularly in our Indian community, that has been a very important issue for them, and I know that will be welcome, and Alan and the team will be flying them here with these wonderful new services going through Darwin. That's great news for the Northern Territory as well.
And, so, the first step is Australians first, bringing Australians home. There are a large number of Australians who's been looking forward to this day, and I'm looking forward to them filling the planes coming back, so they can get home first. Then we will move, having done that safely and watching that closely, this is a, you know, the plan is about opening safely so we can remain safely open. And whether it's here in New South Wales or other states that move and adopt the same policies that the New South Wales Government has, we need to move in a pace the Australian public feel very comfortable with, we need to demonstrate that opening up those borders is being done safely, and they can feel confident, because I want us to open confidently. And I have no doubt that this will, this will be very successful, and that what will happen here in New South Wales and in other states, as we reopen, that will demonstrate to Australians that we can continue to do this. And that means that we'll be able to move then to students and business travellers, we’ll be able to move to skilled, more skilled migrants as well, and we’ll be able to move to international visitors. And I’m confident that because of the way we have prepared for this day, that that is very possible and very achievable before the end of the year to be getting to international visitors. And, of course, that with, that we can bring in the arrangements that I said with Singapore as a first, as a first mover on this, as we already have with New Zealand. Now, that's something I’ve flagged for some time. I’ve always said that Singapore, together with New Zealand, would be the places that we would start. But, I think this will move, once it's proven to be successful, I think quite quickly. I think it will. But I think, at the same time, Australians very much - they’ve worked very hard to get us to this point - and they will want us to proceed in a way that's cautious and careful, but very deliberate and very confident, and that’s what the Premier and I are doing. Dom may have something to add as well.
PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES THE HON. DOMINIC PERROTTET: Well, certainly, we join the Prime Minister here in New South Wales in reiterating those sentiments. We do want to open up as quickly as possible and have as many around the world come and see the best that New South Wales has to offer, particularly though it’s important, as the Prime Minister has said, that we have returning Australians come home first. That’s obviously a clear first priority. And here in New South Wales, where we can help other states in relation to that, we will. And we know that there are many people still stranded overseas, many fellow Australians who want to get home by Christmas, and I think the changes that we have made to our quarantine system here in New South Wales from 1 November facilitates that and will hopefully drive greater action around the country. So, these are very important [inaudible]. But, as the PM has said, this is a very exciting day for our state and for our country, because I think there’s a real step change. I think people now see the light at the end of the tunnel as we move through it. We don't want to go backwards. We want to open up and we want to bring the world back to, back to our great state - and as far as I'm concerned, the best city and the best state in the world - and the faster we can bring back tourism, international students to our state, the better. We want to do that in a safe way. But, the remarks of the Prime Minister in terms of the confidence this will bring I think is incredibly important. Ultimately, this is a confidence gain. Confidence got our state through last year - business confidence, consumer confidence - and confidence is going to get New South Wales through this pandemic and come out stronger the other side.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. Well, I have a message that we need to continue to boost those vaccination rates in Queensland and Western Australia. South Australia will go close, I think, 80 per cent today on their first dose. That's welcome. That shows that those vaccination rates are being pulled through in South Australia. We certainly saw that here and in Victoria that when those first dose rates hit those levels, that you soon saw the second dose rates come along. And, so, that's great news about South Australia. It's great news about Tasmania. Great news about the ACT and Victoria. And, so, you can see the National Plan falling into place, and the key thing to ensure that we open up right across the country is that those vaccination rates hit those scientific targets.
I mean, these are figures, these are targets that have been developed by one of the best scientific agencies in the world when it comes to pandemics - the Doherty Institute out of Melbourne. These 70 and 80 per cent targets have been determined because we know it gives the populations in those states the resilience to deal with the impact of the pandemic, and so we can live with the virus. So, the most important thing, to open up Queensland and Western Australia, is to get those vaccination rates higher, and they are not at those 70 and 80 per cent levels yet, and they must achieve those levels in order for us to move to those next step. That's what the National Plan provides for. In particular in Queensland, and indeed in South Australia as well, and I know there are a lot of people who are trying to get home to their own state, and we've got home quarantine now having begun in Queensland for some cases. I think we need to expand that very, very quickly, so we can get those those 8,000, I understand, Queenslanders home to Queensland. I mean, you've all seen those reunification scenes as people have got back over the border into Victoria. You know, it's a real Love Actually moment, sort of watching that happen. It was tremendous and we're going to see the same here in New South Wales. So, we're looking forward to that. But we've just got to stick to the National Plan. Australians are keeping their side of the deal, so all the governments around Australia, including my own, we've got to keep ours.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: The quarantine facilities that we've committed to as a Commonwealth are about the future, they're about the future, and they're for about quite acute cases, and the unvaccinated population that will be coming to Australia, they will still require the quarantine arrangements, as indeed is still the case here in New South Wales. And one of the days I will never forget during this pandemic was that first weekend when we had flights coming in from Wuhan, and these facilities that we're building - particularly in Melbourne, they'll be the first - will provide an ongoing capacity. This won't be the last pandemic we face. There will be other challenges in the future, and what those facilities are really about is future proofing for threats that may come. Now, I'm sure they'll provide some assistance as we go through the tail of this pandemic, but they will be important facilities for the future.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I can't quite hear you.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. The question’s, for those who couldn't hear it, was about what's happening in the UK and what that means for Australia. Well, we've been finding our own Australian way through this pandemic. That's why over 30,000 lives have been saved here during this pandemic, as opposed to what we've seen, terribly in other countries, sadly including the United Kingdom. We've had the strongest, if not one of the strongest economic performances of any country in the world going through the pandemic, because we've been going the Australian way. Now, with this Australian way, we have had scientific targets determined as to when we can take the steps to reopen the country - a first cautious step at 70 per cent and then a strong and bold step at 80 per cent, but with still low level controls being in place, even at that point, to ensure that we live with the virus safely. So, that's the approach we're taking. That is very different to the approach we saw in the United Kingdom. I was there when they were going through their process of freedom day. They opened up fully, fully when there were tens of thousands of cases a day and 67 per cent double vaccination rates. Now, that's not what we've done. We have taken a very different approach, because my objective with the National Plan, supported strongly by the premiers and chief ministers, is to open safely so we can remain safely open. That is the goal and that is what the plan delivers and that's what I would expect to occur.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm confident in the work that is being done and the strength of the vaccines and the take up of the vaccines here in Australia, which is going to go beyond 80 per cent. I mean, Australia is going to have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, in the world. And, importantly, that vaccination rate has been strongest for those of the elderly population. I mean, our vaccination rates of the elderly population are extraordinary and they are those most at risk of the pandemic. And even with our Indigenous population, where there have been many challenges, when I was in the United States and speaking to the Vice President, she spoke to me about their success with the Native American population in the United States. Our vaccination rates for Indigenous population are the same as for the Native American population in the United States. There are challenges in vaccinating Indigenous populations around the world, and our performance is consistent with what we've seen there. And that comes from strong leadership within Indigenous communities and and the many programs that have been done, particularly in partnership with state governments out in the west of New South Wales, and just working together and getting the job done. So, I'm confident that the National Plan, scientifically-based, driven by the best possible medical expertise, backed in by the strong economic policies and support started at Commonwealth level and a, and a state level, means that Australia, the Australian way will continue to show the way when it comes to the management of the pandemic.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: The Cabinet will consider this matter next week, before I head off to Glasgow. And as yet, I expect to see some further information on that today, and we'll work through that and determine what we’ll take forward to Cabinet next week. The decision will be taken by Cabinet and I'll be in a position to announce that later in the week.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not familiar with those reports.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
MR ALAN JOYCE AC, CEO OF QANTAS: No, because one of the things that's clear with the requirements now into New South Wales, that our crew based here won't have the requirements to go into quarantine. That's a big difference in allowing us to roster these flights and asking people to do them. Similarly, if the news out of Victoria today is going to be the same, that's a big benefit for the crews that are based there as well, because at the moment they do have to spend time in quarantine. They’re away from their families for months. As I said, they've been doing it to get vulnerable Aussies home. But what's great about what the Premier announced here, and hopefully we’ll get announcement out of Victoria that will end, and we can roster people without having to go into quarantine at this end. I will, I will say one of the great things the Prime Minister did was putting this program into place to keep people linked with us. So, I'm absolutely convinced that we won't lose pilots, engineers. There may be some cabin crew, when we ask people to come back, admit they may have gone on to other roles, that may be the case, but that, while it's a skilled job, that's one we can train up for fairly rapidly if we need to be. And we're very confident we'll get the vast bulk, the vast majority of our 22,000 people back to work, and that's what that program was designed to do. And I think it’s worked really well.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
MR ALAN JOYCE AC, CEO OF QANTAS: Well, that depends on the Indonesian Government, because at the moment there are quarantine requirements for people to spend up to seven days in their hotel room, which nobody's going to go to Bali to do that. So, the Indonesian Government is looking out for Bali, which is highly vaccinated, of doing something similar to what's happened here in New South Wales. And, if that happens, when you're in the resort you can spend a couple of days there before you get access to the general community. We will do something very fast and very big. And, as I said, Jetstar got its operation into Bali, was the biggest operation of any airline - that's amazing - into Bali. They need Aussies there to rejuvenate their tourism industry, and we were happy to help with that. And we're hoping to get Aussies with the opportunity to get back in before Christmas. But, it will be in the early new year at the latest, I think, and we've got aircraft ready to go. We've got Jetstar pilots and cabin crew ready to operate it, which would be great news for them.
PRIME MINISTER: Just on, just on that Alan, I’ll just add, I'll be seeing President Widodo this, next weekend, after this one, at the G20. This has been a regular matter that's come up in our discussions over the course of the pandemic about when we can have travel to Indonesia going again. And I think that provides another opportunity, I think, to take up the issues. I mean, there's a lot of great discussion that's going backwards and forwards between officials, and all countries, as they're opening up, will be working through this. I mean, one of the, one of the most important things that we have to work through, particularly in November, which I know the Premier is aware of, and that is the international vaccination certificates. I mean, from Australia's point of view they’re rock solid - 320,000 have been downloaded, Alan, so that's 320,000 customers who are getting ready to go and excited about that. But we will go through that process of recognising other vaccination certificates and attestations coming into the country. And, so, over the course of November, with Australians coming home and residents and their immediate families, that will put the system through that important first round to ensure that that is all working as it should, and we can have the confidence about that before you take it to the next level.
But, just in closing, I want to, I want to thank Alan for you hosting the Premier and I today.
MR ALAN JOYCE AC, CEO OF QANTAS: Thank you for being here as well.
PRIME MINISTER: It's it's tremendous to be here with the New South Wales Premier. Dominic, it's great to be here together, seeing this happen together. Can I just indulge a second to say that to Qantas and New South Wales Government, and of course to my own team, as a member representing southern Sydney, where there's a lot of Qantas employees, a lot of airline employees, a lot of people who work here at this airport and other places, I want to thank them for their perseverance - 11,000 people coming back to work. That's what I call a take-off. Thanks very much everyone.
Ministerial Statement: Anniversary of National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse
21 October 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Mr Speaker, I move that the House commemorate the anniversary of the National Apology to the Survivors and Victims of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse.
Mr Speaker, three years ago tomorrow, this Parliament - on behalf of all Australians - offered an unconditional apology to the victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
Our National Apologies have always been days of reckoning.
Those days of reckoning have become importantly part of our national story.
The Apology to the Stolen Generations - an apology for the racism, cruelties and injustices inflicted on our First Nations peoples.
The Apology for Forced Adoptions - an apology for the shame and the stigma and the brutality that forcibly split parents from their children.
The Apology to the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants - an apology for the unconscionable cruelties experienced by children removed from their families and placed in institutional homes.
The apologies reflect our acknowledgement of our failures as a people.
As a Liberal democratic people, we aren't afraid of our history.
Nor do we recoil from engaging with terrible truths.
Truth was always at the heart of the apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
And this is what the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, initiated by Prime Minister Gillard, was all about.
With thousands of people coming forward and sharing their painful experiences.
Bringing into the light what had been in the darkness.
Eight thousand women, men and young people recounted their abuse in private sessions with the Royal Commission.
A further 1,000 gave written accounts.
As well, the Royal Commission received 26,000 letters and emails, and 42,000 phone calls.
To the thousands who came forward and the thousands who could not, this Parliament said: we believe you and the country believes you.
Our apology didn’t - and cannot - undo our national failures.
Nor can an apology return a lost childhood, or repair the damage inflicted by the guilty or those who were complicit by their silence.
But it can be a marker on a path of healing.
And the start of a serious attempt by our nation to make amends.
Mr Speaker, today I am reporting further on those amends that we have been making.
The Royal Commission made 409 recommendations, of which 206 were directed wholly or partially at the Australian Government.
Eighty-four of those were about redress, and led to the establishment of the National Redress Scheme - now in its fourth year.
As of last month, over 6,200 payments have been made under the Scheme, amounting to almost $535 million.
The average payment is $85,000 - that’s $20,000 more than what the Royal Commission estimated.
In the Budget, we put aside more than $80 million over the next four years to progress improvements to the Redress Scheme, and I acknowledge the work of Minister Ruston in leading that initiative.
We’re committed to making it more trauma-informed, responsive, and utterly and ultimately, more survivor-focused.
In June this year, the Final Report of the second year review of the Scheme was published.
And the Government is taking initial action on 25 of its 38 recommendations.
We’ve made available advance payments of $10,000 to survivors who are older or terminally ill.
We’ve pushed institutions to meet their moral obligations to survivors.
Those that fail to participate have already been named and will become ineligible for future Commonwealth grants. As well, they risk being stripped of their charitable status.
The Government will keep working through the recommendations and release a final response early next year.
Another major commitment arising from the Royal Commission was the establishment of a National Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse.
I’m pleased to announce that the Blue Knot Foundation, along with its partners the Australian Childhood Foundation and the Healing Foundation, will establish and deliver the centre.
With $22.5 million in Commonwealth funding, the National Centre will build knowledge and expertise, and raise awareness of the impacts of child sexual abuse.
The voices of victims and survivors will shape their work.
It will build workforce capability, so that we can better respond to child and adult survivors.
It will conduct research and evaluation, and provide practical guides for responsive functions like help-seeking, advocacy and therapeutic treatment.
The National Centre will also undertake vital work preventing child sexual abuse happening in the future.
As well, we are also going to construct a National Memorial, here in our nation’s capital, to honour victims and survivors, and to remind ourselves of catastrophic failures to protect children, to make sure they do not happen again.
We expect the Memorial will be completed early next year, or next year, I should say, and serve as a place of remembrance, reflection, truth, healing and hope.
Mr Speaker, this anniversary always requires us to reckon with our past.
But it also draws our attention to the present and the very near future.
Child sexual abuse is happening now.
It’s happening online, in appalling numbers.
The shocking truth is online child sexual abuse was already increasing, and it has spiked in response to the COVID‑19 restrictions.
It makes our response all the more urgent and our resolve all the more unshakeable.
Our enforcement, intelligence and research agencies are tasked with tracking down child sexual abuse wherever it happens.
They work together on many fronts, with new and advanced technologies, to deter, disrupt and prevent abuse.
The Australian Federal Police, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation and the Australian Border Force are on the frontlines.
Operation ARKSTONE is the largest ever domestic investigation into online child sexual abuse.
It continues to yield results, with more than 1,300 charges laid so far.
The Australian Institute of Criminology drives national research to better understand child sexual abuse.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission helps law enforcement agencies to respond to online child sexual abuse by linking data sets and using advanced analytics capabilities.
And AUSTRAC works with financial institutions to detect and disrupt payments for child abuse materials, including the disgusting practice of abuse that is livestreamed.
Since 2018, this partnership approach has resulted in an almost 400 per cent increase in reports of suspect financial activity around child exploitation.
AUSTRAC and the Australian Border Force have collaborated to harden the Australian border to child sex offenders.
And our law enforcement agencies have partnered with the Philippines Financial Intelligence Unit to use information on people arrested overseas to identify previous unknown offenders based in Australia.
The Department of Home Affairs is building relationships with digital industry that prevent offenders from using online platforms to groom, exploit and abuse children, or share child abuse material.
These and other agencies are working together, and with state and territory partners, to respond to child sexual abuse.
And we continue to work with our Five Country partners to hold industry to account.
Mr Speaker, we cannot allow our digital environment to offer anonymity and impunity to offenders. It cannot shelter them.
Nor can we allow it to become a prohibitively hostile and hazardous place for children to be, since so much of their learning and experience depends on being able to enter it safely. All of our children.
Mr Speaker, next week is National Children’s Week.
A time to celebrate children’s achievements, and a call to all of us to uphold children’s right to enjoy their childhood.
Next week, we will launch the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse.
The National Strategy will be a 10-year whole-of-nation framework to establish a coordinated and consistent approach.
It will deliver ambitious and world-leading measures to prevent and respond to all forms of child sexual abuse.
In May, I announced a $146 million program, over those four years, for the National Strategy’s first phase - including close to $60 million worth of measures to be delivered by the Australian Federal Police.
We also committed close to $14 million to equip our intelligence, research and border protection agencies to disrupt the cash flow behind child sexual abuse, to prevent and disrupt live-streamed child sexual abuse, to intercept material and offenders at the border, and enhance our ability to identify offenders in the community.
We also committed over $27 million to support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, expanding legal assistance to victims and survivors, and co-designing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healing approaches.
The full National Strategy will include additional measures and further funding.
And my Government looks forward to working with the states and territories to deliver these reforms.
And finally, Mr Speaker, at the end of this year we will table the Government’s fourth Annual Progress Report against the Royal Commission’s recommendations.
These yearly reports, as well as the Royal Commission itself, and the Apology we commemorate today - they are all about accountability.
They are about confronting the deepest, darkest secrets in our past and, indeed, in our present.
Bringing that truth into the light.
Two years ago, on its first anniversary, we placed a parchment etched with the Apology’s words in the Members Hall.
Nearby are the apologies made to the Stolen Generations, the Forgotten Australians, to former Child Migrants and for the Forced Adoptions.
These items of ceremony and suffering sit in the symbolic heart of our Australian Parliament on public display, because that is where they belong.
As a remembrance of wrongs, and our willingness to right them.
They call us to own our stories, and indeed to make better ones.
And tomorrow as we mark this third anniversary, we commit ourselves again to honouring of these lives, and to the safety of all Australian children.
And Mr Speaker, I say to those who even today can’t get out of bed, still cannot face, and feel alone, you are not.
This Parliament has heard you, and each year and each day we will continue to remind you that you are heard, you are listened to, and that you are not alone, and our country understands what happens and our country wants to heal, and we want to help you heal.
But we know, even now, you are finding that incredibly difficult, and for that we can only say to you that you are very much here with us today, even if you cannot be.
And I want to conclude by offering one thanks, to the Member for Swan, Mr Speaker.
The Member for Swan is retiring at the next election.
There are many members in this place, in the Opposition ranks, Government ranks, for whom this has been quite a cause.
But the Member for Swan’s passion and determination and quiet achievement in this area has been truly extraordinary.
He has served his country admirably and I thank him very much for his own personal counsel to me on this most important of issues.
Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW
15 October 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, good afternoon. I see everybody’s met Buddy. Today is an important day in the National Plan. Earlier this week, I wrote to all the premiers and chief ministers and asked them to advise me of where they are up to when it came to home quarantine, which would enable Australia to move to the next phase, more broadly, that would allow Australians to travel overseas and return if they are vaccinated, and to return, to return vaccinated, with no caps on their return. I’m very pleased that the New South Wales Government has advised, as you’ve learnt today, that they will be in a position to move to a no quarantine arrangement for people arriving back in Australia from the 1st of November, which enables us to be in a position to ensure that we can lift the caps for returning Australian citizens, residents and their families from the 1st of November into new South Wales. What this also means is that we will be allowing Australians, permanent residents and citizens and their families, to leave Australia from wherever they live in Australia and return, but obviously the capped arrangements in other states will continue because of the vaccination levels in those places and the arrangements they have in place in each of those states and territories.
So, this is further demonstration of Australians getting vaccinated is enabling them to do more and more and more. New South Wales is hitting 80 per cent double dose vaccination rates. Here in this city it is turning into one of the more vaccinated cities in the world today, and that is a great achievement for Australia, and in particular those right across Greater Sydney, and it’s been hard fought and hard won. And that’s why I welcome the fact that this is a further sign of the National Plan coming into effect and allowing Australians to start reclaiming so many of the things that have been taken from them throughout this pandemic.
I also want to note that at the National Security Committee earlier this week, where we considered these matters on Tuesday, we also agreed that we would be looking at expanding the definition of ‘immediate family’ to include the parents of Australian residents and citizens, and I know that will be very welcome news to Australians right across the country who are hoping to be reunited with their family members, their parents who are overseas. Now, in New South Wales’ case, that means that those family members will be able to come into Sydney if they are vaccinated and not have to quarantine, under the arrangements that the Premier has announced today. So, that is a welcome step forward.
I want to stress that for the other states and territories, and I have advised the premiers and chief ministers to this end, that this is about Australian residents and citizens first. The Commonwealth Government has made no decision to allow other visa holders - skilled visa holders, student visa holders, international visitors travelling under an ETA or other international visa arrangement, visa, visiting visa arrangement - to come into Australia under these arrangements. They are decisions for the Commonwealth Government, as the Premier and I know, and, but where we’re in a position to make that decision down the track, then obviously in New South Wales they will be able to do so, if they’re vaccinated, without having to quarantine.
So, I think that should provide some sense of assurance to those in other states that all we’re talking about now is Australian citizens, residents and their immediate families, which we’ll be looking to extend to the parents of those Australian citizens and residents. So, that’s good news. We're making good progress. We're looking forward to hitting 70 per cent national double dose vaccinations and, as we’ve particularly gone over the 80 per cent mark as well for single dose vaccinations right around the country.
A couple of other things quickly before we have the weather set in. The first of those is overnight I confirmed my attendance at the Glasgow Summit, which I'm looking forward to attending. It’s an important event. The Government will be finalising its position for me to take to that Summit prior to my departure over the next fortnight. We are working through those issues with our Cabinet and with our colleagues, and I look forward to those discussions concluding over the next couple of weeks. And I simply say to everyone that net zero was an outcome that I outlined at the beginning of this year, consistent with our Paris commitments. The challenge is not about the if and the when, the challenge is about the how. And I’m very focused on the how, because the global changes that are happening in our economy as a result of the response to climate change have a real impact, and they will have a real impact here in Australia. And the plan that I'm taking forward, together with my colleagues, is about ensuring that our regions are strong, that our regions’ jobs are not only protected, but they have opportunities for the future. It's not just about hitting net zero. That's an important environmental goal. But, what's important is that Australia's economy goes from strength to strength, and the livelihoods and the lives that Australians know, particularly in rural and regional areas, are able to go forward with hope and with confidence. And that's what my plan will be all about, and I look forward to furthering those discussions in the weeks ahead. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Did Dominic Perrottet consult you in his decision to remove not just hotel quarantine but home quarantine as well, he said, for Australians and international travellers?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, the Premier and I, and indeed prior to him becoming Premier and in earlier discussions I've had with ministers in the New South Wales Government, this has been a topic of discussion for for some time. And, so, I welcome the announcement today. It is consistent with the advice I have from my own Chief Medical Officer. And, so, we're looking forward to those arrangements coming into place.
As I, as I said, I'd written to all the premiers and chief ministers earlier this week, and also consistent with the decision of the National Security Committee, asking them to confirm the arrangements they would have, so we could make a decision about whether and when Australians would be able to travel overseas again and return. And the Premier wrote back to me today and confirmed that would be on 1st of November, and under those no quarantine arrangements for vaccinated Australians.
JOURNALIST: Does it concern you that they've made this decision on home quarantine so soon after only starting, only recently starting the home quarantine trial? Would you have liked that to run out a bit longer, before they made a call like this?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're not opening up to everyone coming back to Australia at the moment. I want to be clear about that. We're going to take this forward in a staged and careful way, as we've done all of these things. It's for the Commonwealth Government, the Federal Government, to decide when the border opens and shuts at an international level, and we will do that. In the first instance, it will be for Australians, Australian residents and their families. We'll see how that goes and then we'll move to the other priorities, which I've already set out as being skilled migration, as well as students to Australia. And then we'll move on to the challenge of dealing with international visitors to Australia. So, everything all in good time. We're not rushing into this. We're taking it carefully, step by step. I welcome the decision in New South Wales. It's showing another strong step forward, and I think it enables us to progress.
JOURNALIST: Will unvaccinated Australians be able to come back?
PRIME MINISTER: There is a 210 cap per week in New South Wales for unvaccinated Australians to come back, which was confirmed to me by the New South Wales Government, and I'm looking forward to confirmation of those other numbers from other state premiers in response to my letter earlier this week.
JOURNALIST: We've got New South Wales opening up to the world. Western Australia is talking about keeping its border closed until next year. How sustainable is that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it all depends on the vaccination rates, and that's what the National Plan provides for. And when we reach 70 and 80 per cent vaccination rates under the National Plan, that gives us the opportunity to take the next steps. Now, Western Australia is not at the stage of New South Wales yet, neither is any other state or territory. I'm looking forward to them getting to that level because that means they will then have those options that people in New South Wales will have from the 1st of November.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, could I book a flight to Bali on the 1st of November, and then come back in without quarantining?
PRIME MINISTER: Out of New South Wales, yes.
JOURNALIST: So, New South Wales wants international travellers and international students back from November 1. That won’t be able to happen?
PRIME MINISTER: No, the Federal Government is not opening it up to anything other than Australian citizens and residents and their immediate families. That is what will happen from the 1st of November in New South Wales, and indeed all around the country for Australians departing. To return to Australia, obviously they'd have to do that through Sydney or under the capped arrangements in other states and territories.
JOURNALIST: So, when will international travellers and international students be able to come back to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Not yet.
JOURNALIST: Was the Premier a little bit hasty, perhaps, in suggesting that tourists and other international travellers could be coming in from that time?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, what the Premier did today was advise me and announce today that when international students, when international travellers, when skilled migrants are permitted to return to Australia by the Commonwealth Government, then they will not be required to quarantine when they come. The Premier understands that that's a decision for the Commonwealth Government, not for the state governments. And when we believe that's the right decision to make, we'll make it at that time. I'm going to progress steadily, but at the same time, carefully, and I welcome this first step. I think it's a positive step.
JOURNALIST: Would you suggest other states abandon their home quarantine trials - South Australia, Victoria?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I think each state and territory will make their judgements about that. We’ll continue to support those trials. I think it's good to have a range of options that are being pursued by the states and territories. Remember, no state or territory is coming from the same place. They're all starting in different positions, with different rates of COVID in their states and territories. And, indeed, I understand today in Tasmania they're going into a very short lockdown. They're still in phase A. And it's a reminder, wherever you are in Australia, please get vaccinated.
JOURNALIST: Is there any reason to think that this could harm the opening of domestic borders, you know, might scare other state and territory leaders into not opening their borders, if New South Wales is welcoming people without quarantine?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't believe so. I don't think there's any justification for that, particularly as we are only extending this to Australian residents, citizens and their immediate families. It's not extending more broadly than that, which would obviously have a much greater volume. It is constrained to that volume of Australian citizen residents returning, which I'm sure all premiers and chief ministers want Australians to be able to come home. Well, I think the weather may be about to beat us … Last … Sure.
JOURNALIST: On Glasgow, will you be taking a concrete emissions target or a plan for a target?
PRIME MINISTER: Our position will be set out before I leave for Glasgow. Thanks very much, everyone.
Remarks, The Lodge Canberra, ACT
11 October 2021
Prime Minister: Today is a day so many have been looking forward to. A day when things we take for granted, we’ll celebrate. Being with family and friends, getting a haircut, grabbing a meal together, going to the pub and having a beer with your mates. These are things that across New South Wales and particularly in Sydney, people will be able to do again today and I know all around the country that will be true, particularly in Victoria and here in the ACT.
I want to thank Australians for the incredible job that they've done in getting vaccinated. Over the weekend, more than 400,000 vaccines were administered across the country. That is the biggest weekend we've had throughout the entire vaccination program and that tells me one thing: that Australians have been totally up for this the whole way through. They are getting the job done.
Whether you are in a state like New South Wales which is opening up today, a state like Victoria that soon will be, or over in the west or up in Queensland, where the impact of COVID has not been the same, but still we need those vaccines to ensure that when COVID inevitably comes, that in those states you will be able to continue on as you have. So let's keep going, Australia, with the vaccination program. To all those particularly in Sydney and across New South Wales today who are opening up today, enjoy the moment, enjoy it with your family and friends. I'm looking forward to seeing my family as well, having come out of this quarantine.
On the other big issues, though, we need to keep going ahead, whether it is protecting Australia’s national security or ensuring our economic recovery, because as we open up, the economy will bounce back strongly and those jobs will come back and people will be back in work and we will see that month after month after month, as we get more and more people back at work, back in jobs, back in the economy. But we also must deal with the big challenges. Addressing climate change is a challenge that we must do together. As Prime Minister, it is my job to bring people together on dealing with this big change. The world is moving into a new energy economy. We all know that. It is now a question of how not if, and how is how we can ensure that those communities right across rural and regional Australia can look at this change and understand that there are big opportunities and there is a way through.
My government is committed to ensuring that rural and regional Australia transitions to this new energy economy in the future stronger, with their jobs and their communities intact and they can look forward with confidence and they can plan for the future with confidence. We've got to come together on this issue. My government will come together on this issue. The country will come together on this issue and we will tackle this challenge, just like we have tackled the challenges already before us. Thanks, everyone.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
1 April 2022
PRIME MINISTER: Afternoon, everyone. Australia has cleared a very important hurdle in our fight against COVID-19. With New South Wales passing the 70 per cent double vaccination rate threshold, as set out in the National Plan, we have passed the first major milestone for Australians to start getting their lives back. We have worked so hard to save lives. We have worked so hard to save livelihoods. Indeed, in New South Wales, just over the course of this latest lockdown, more than $10 billion of support provided by the Commonwealth Government to see those in New South Wales through, just as we're doing right now in Victoria and as we're doing here in the ACT, and as we've done even in those states and territories that haven't had lockdowns but their businesses have been affected. We've been able to provide that economic support. Saving lives, saving livelihoods, and now Australians are beginning to get their lives back.
The things that have been taken from them because of this awful pandemic, the ability of Australians to come together, Australians to spend time with one another, to do business, to be together with family, to go to weddings, to go to funerals. All of these times so precious, and these times now being restored, because of the vaccination rates hitting the levels that we've needed them to, as has been set out in the scientific work that has been done by the Doherty Institute.
I particularly want to say to all those doctors and pharmacists in New South Wales, and indeed, right across the country, that that 70 per cent double vaccination rate would not have been achieved without their fine work. Two-thirds of the vaccinations that have been delivered in New South Wales has been delivered under that program by the Commonwealth, through the pharmacists, and through, in particular, the GPs, who really did that heavy lifting with AstraZeneca over the many months that ensured that New South Wales can see the day they're seeing today, and, importantly, can see the day that they will see on Monday.
On Monday, New South Wales will be able to begin the process of opening safely, and stay safely open. That's what’s different this time. That's what the National Plan is about. When you hit those vaccination rates, you can open with certainty again, and you can open safely with certainty again, and you can stay open. So, you can make your plans, you can make your bookings, you can go back to having that certainty about what's happening weeks and months from now.
And I want this to be a sign of hope to the rest of the country, particularly those in Victoria who I'm mindful of today, and here in the ACT, where the lockdowns continue. But, what it does show is that those vaccinations have enabled New South Wales to now get to that point where the light at the end of that tunnel is now very, very close. And that will be true for Victoria, it will be true for the ACT as well, as they go towards these marks.
I commend, of course, the governments in New South Wales and Victoria and ACT for setting out their road map, for setting out the specifics of what people can expect, and I want to encourage them more down that path. The deal that we had with Australians, if they roll up their sleeves, then we will roll up ours, in ensuring that they can reclaim the things that are so important to them, and that’s what we’re now seeing as a result of that vaccination program.
I also want to thank the Polish Government, the UK Government, for the incredibly important role, and the Government of Singapore, that they played, particularly in this last month. Those additional doses that we were able to secure and accelerate those vaccination rates, particularly those Polish doses early, that enabled New South Wales to target those areas most affected by the outbreak, and indeed, ensures that they can see the day that they will now see on Monday. And I thank all of those who were involved in that important work.
But, it is hope for the other states and territories. It does show that there is a path ahead. It does provide them with encouragement. And I also want to say to those states that haven't had the same COVID experience as New South Wales and Victoria and the ACT, that you don't need to have that experience if we can continue to see those vaccination rates rising. That's the motive. That's the incentive. Sure, in many states around the country they are not living under the harsh and strict conditions that we've seen in New South Wales and Victoria and the ACT. But, they can avoid those outcomes, because COVID will certainly come. There's no avoiding that. And everybody understands that. There's no part of the world where people don't understand, that under the Delta strain, is it eventually comes. We're seeing that in New Zealand, we’ve seen it here in, in the eastern states. And it will come. But, when that day comes, when your vaccination rates are at those 70 and particularly 80 per cent levels, that means you'll be able to withstand it. And those vaccinations not only give you an inoculation against serious disease and illness, but they also can give you an inoculation as a state against the need for those harsh lockdowns.
And, so, I would encourage those right around the country to go and get vaccinated. Let's hit those marks. It's great to see now that in other states, particularly in WA and in Queensland, they are now over 50 per cent double vaccination rates. That's very, very good news. And it's a lot harder in those states, because there isn't the immediate urgency that we're seeing in the eastern states, because of the lockdowns. Of course, that's going to provide a greater motivation and incentive for people to get vaccinated. But, in those other states, they're continuing to press on, and that's why I continue to be impressed with what’s happening in Tasmania, where their vaccination rates are high, but yet their COVID rates are very, very low.
So, now, 81 per cent of over 16s, right around the country, are now first dose vaccinated, just under 60 per cent second dose. Ninety-five per cent of over 70s first dose, 81 per cent second dose. And for over 50s, 90 per cent first dose, just under 75 per cent second dose. We will hit 30 million doses of the vaccine being administered this week. And we'll do that now in what is essentially the first week of October. What that shows is the problems and challenges that we've had, we've addressed, we’ve fixed. And we’ve turned it around and we're in the home stretch, and we're moving towards that line, and then we need to keep going beyond it. Because I believe Australia can achieve much higher vaccination rates than the 70 and 80 per cent that we've set out in the National Plan, and that will only give us greater confidence and enable us to move even more quickly as we open the country up.
I want to see Australians all reunited once again. I'm sure we all want that. I have no doubt that all premiers and chief ministers around the country want to see that as well. So, we need to keep setting out that path ahead, moving forward with confidence, and giving people that hope that the vaccine program is giving them. We can't be complacent. We need to move in a safe way. And the National Plan does set out a safe path, based on the best possible medical and health advice and the best scientific research, as has been done by the Doherty Institute.
To all those still in lockdown, you can look at this day and say, we'll be there soon, and I know you will be. It won't be long. And as the days get warmer, then I think Australia's prospects will continue to get brighter.
And, so, I want to thank all of Australians for the tremendous work that you’ve done in getting us to this point. There's more to do, there's a lot of hope ahead, and I want us to keep pressing towards that. But, to everybody in New South Wales, enjoy, enjoy the moment on Monday, but be careful, continue to remain safe, and COVID safe, and we'll continue to press forward, and I have no doubt the rest of the country will follow. Phil.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a couple of questions. First on COVID, with Dominic Perrottet, you know, accelerating the reopening in New South Wales, do you have any concerns they may get a little ahead of themselves, and as we’ve seen in Singapore and places, may have to, you know, row back again in future weeks? And, separately and secondly on on climate change. That the concerns Keith Pitt’s raised about the need to keep financing the resources sector during the transition. Do you have any views on how that should be done, and what do you think of his view that the Government should step in as a last resort lender?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me speak to the first point, and that is, I've, you know, been in pretty regular contact with the new Premier, just as I used to be with Premier Berejiklian. And Dom and I were discussing this just the other night. And they are acting as they always have in New South Wales, consistent with the health advice that has been provided to them. I mean, we're still at 70 per cent. I think the measures that have been taken still remain cautious. I mean, you still can't go to church and sing and all of these sorts of things. There's still the, what I’d call, the low to medium level public health safety, social measures, I should say, that are in place. Their test, trace, isolate and quarantine measures, they're still in place. And, all of that combined, I think provides the protection, which the Doherty modelling says is necessary. So, I think they're moving in step with that advice, and that's clearly what they're receiving from the Chief Health Officer in New South Wales. But, you know, people are right to say, look, it's great to have these, but let's be careful with them. Let's not get too excited too quick. There's still a long way to go. And I have no doubt that the New South Wales Government will proceed safely and cautiously. But, they won't be holding back, at the same time, the important freedoms that I think people have worked hard to achieve.
On the other issue, look, we're working through those issues as the Government at the moment, and we'll do that, you know, within our Cabinet process, and that's the right place to have those discussions. But, I will say this, you know, I've been very clear about our position when it comes to transitioning to the new energy economy. I believe Australia can do this, and ensure that the regions excel, that the regions actually exceed their current prospects. And that is done by embracing a new energy economy and the technology that is needed to support that. And that's what our plan’s about. And, so, I’ll be working that through as a Government over the next few weeks, obviously in the lead-up to COP26, and I'm looking forward to what has already been, I think, a very good faith process. We want the best for Australia. We want the best for our regions. We want the best for our environment, and we want to do the right thing by the world, as we always have. Australia meets and beats its commitments. We meet and beat. That’s what we do on climate. We're 20 per cent more down on our 2005 emissions. That is a record that many countries aspire to. We’ve already achieved it and, of course, we’ve got a lot more to do.
JOURNALIST: PM, just on climate change. The UK High Commissioner has said that the global benchmark that she would like to see Australia meet, for the 2030 target, between 40 to 50 per cent. You say that we're going to meet and beat. Can you go to COP with a target like that? And, secondly, Keith Pitt has said that that sort of comment, those sorts of comments from the High Commissioner is gratuitous. Do you believe, do you agree with that?
PRIME MINISTER: Australian will set our commitments in accordance with Australia’s national interests and our, our responsibilities. We always have. And they’ll be set by Australians, they’ll be set by the Australian Cabinet, for Australian needs, and we'll make our Australian way. I don't propose to make any suggestions as to what other countries should be doing. What I understand is this is a global challenge, and that unless we're all working together on this, unless we're seeing the technological change that is needed, particularly in developing countries, as former Senator Kerry and former Secretary Kerry said quite plainly, when he first went into the role of Special Envoy, the United States could reduce their emissions to zero. But, if China continued on the direction they're on, it would make no difference. And, so, what’s important, as I outlined at the Quad meeting, is that we achieve this new energy economy, new energy technology transformation. That's what will change the world. When we see in places like Australia, but also in Indonesia, in Malaysia, in Vietnam, in India, when we see the technology transformation, and hydrogen has such a huge role to play in that, that's why we’re so focused on it, then that’s when you'll see the global issues of climate change addressed. We can all go to meetings. But, the thing that will actually change it is the transformation delivered by new technologies. And that's what Australia is focused on.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] People are still doing it tough. The RBA says the economic rebound won't be as quick as last time. So, what sort of financial, additional financial support will you provide businesses and workers to smooth the transition from lockdown to reopening?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, sure, as you know, the COVID Disaster Payment, that continues now, on Monday that continues, while we're at 70 per cent and up to 80 per cent levels. And the only thing that changes is, following this Sunday, you just need to reapply each week, because as the weeks go on, and as the businesses open up again in New South Wales, then people will get back to work, and people want to be working, not getting COVID Disaster Payments. They want to be at work where they'll earn even more. And so, they’ll reapply over the next few weeks, and that support will be maintained at its existing level in the weeks ahead in New South Wales. Those payments, once we hit 80 per cent, the following week after that occurs, then they will require people to reapply again. It’ll fall to $450 and in the first week, and then [inaudible] after that, and I'll get to business in a second. So, that is a pretty, we're talking about a clear path there that people can understand. It isn’t immediate, it happens over time. And, so, I think people can have some confidence. And if they're in the position where they have to move to some other form of support, such as JobSeeker, then there is time for them to make that translation across into that level of support as well, if they need that on an ongoing basis.
Now, for businesses, when the state's vaccination rate reaches 70 per cent, JobSaver payments, as they're called in New South Wales, will taper from the current payment, equivalent to around 40 per cent of weekly payroll, to 30 per cent of weekly payroll. We anticipate that to occur on the 10th of October, that's my advice, until the 23rd of October, and then the minimum and maximum weekly payments for businesses will be reduced by 25 per cent to $1,125, and 70, and up to $75,000 weekly, and grants to be around 30 per cent of the payroll. And that grant for sole traders will reduce to $750.
Now, when you get to 80 per cent, the Commonwealth's contribution to the JobSaver program, that will cease, in line with the National Plan and the arrangements we've entered into with the New South Wales Government. We anticipate that probably by the end of this month, and then the New South Wales Government will make further decisions about its ongoing support.
I remind you, though, on business supports, the National Cabinet agreement was that the Commonwealth would do the individual payments, and the states would cover all business payments. That was the agreement. Now, we went further than that. We went further to cover 50 per cent of the costs of bespoke programs that were put in place in New South Wales and Victoria, here in the ACT, and, indeed, in other states that that haven't had lockdowns, but where they've been impacted by the significant lockdowns in the south-eastern states. So, the Commonwealth has done the big, heavy lifting on economic supports to see Australians and Australian businesses through, and that's why we want to see Australians now not be reliant on the economic supports of Government, but on the economic efforts of their own businesses and their own enterprise. That's what the future looks like with living with COVID, to move away from a dependence on Government to the self-dependence of the success of their own businesses and their own enterprises. David.
JOURNALIST: On hospitals, Prime Minister. The AMA has raised concerns that hospitals will be overwhelmed from higher case numbers, higher admissions. First of all, are you seeing any advice that there is that kind of prospect of hospitals being overwhelmed and related to that, the policies in some regions and some states are for COVID, people with COVID to go first to hospitals. Others are taking a approach of creating them at home and community care. Do you think it's time for the approach to change across all states so that people don't go first to hospital?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've been working with the states and territories for months and months and months on this, and there's been great work done together with Doherty, which is understanding the peak pressures on hospitals at a state wide level. When things you get down to a regional level, obviously there's going to be differences beyond that which states are better placed to understand. But what we've seen in New South Wales is the modelling where they were basing decisions on surge needs in New South Wales hospitals, those worst case scenarios were not realised, and in fact, the demand is pitched below that. Now it's better to be prepared for what might be worse and hope for the best. And in New South Wales, I think we've seen more of that outcome and the work that needs to be done, and frankly, should have been done for the last 18 months, in many cases, I believe it has. I mean, Victoria has a strong plan for dealing with the surge in their hospitals, and they're working to that plan and that's working well. That doesn't mean there won't be stresses on the system. Of course there will, but that the plans that we've seen put in place and the information that we've received from the health departments around the country through the process that we have under Professor Murphy is demonstrating that to date then that planning is well in place. Now we're seeing stresses on hospital systems in other states, in the territories, which have nothing to do with COVID. I mean, New South Wales and Victoria have been able to plan for the COVID surge, they're in the middle of it. They have the same funding arrangements as any other state and territory, but they're dealing with it. So this isn't about funding. This is about management of hospital systems. States must run their hospital systems well. They must prepare for them. And I want to commend the way that New South Wales and Victoria and to be fair, the ACT, has been working through those challenges and ensuring that they can prepare for what's coming. But you've got to prepare for what's coming and they are doing that and all states and territories should be. The pandemic has been running a long time now, and but I say this. On the vaccines, that's why it's so important for those states that have not yet been hit by large COVID outbreaks, the higher your vaccination rate is, then the less of an impact there's going to be on your hospital system. And that is probably the single most important thing that anyone can do in any state and territory to ensure there is lesser impact on their hospital system from COVID. And that is to get vaccinated. Where there's no cases, or whether there's 500 cases, or indeed 1,500 cases a day. The best thing you can do to support nurses and all those working in hospitals is to get vaccinated.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister [inaudible], deal with Australians, when you have Tasmania saying it won't reopen till 90 per cent, WA saying a similar thing, Queensland not putting a number on it, even here in the ACT, where the vaccination rate is comparable to New South Wales, the reopening is much slower. Have those states and territory leaders broken that deal with Australians by not sticking to the national plan at 70 and 80 per cent vaccination?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let's see. Let's just see what happens. Let's just see what happens on all of that. I give New South Wales the credit for honouring the deal that they've had with their, with their citizens. It's been a long lockdown. My family's been in it. I've been back and forwards into lockdown and quarantine, and I'm still in quarantine now. So I have some sense, not the same sense as how others are dealing with. I don't pretend to that, but it's been a long road, a very long road. And you know, people expect that when they put that effort in, that the government will keep its side of the deal. Now, you have to open safely and you have to remain safely open. There's no doubt about that. All states are starting from a different place, and I respect that. Now, Western Australia in particular, I'd say, is in a quite a different situation to the rest of the country. It always is. That's the nature of its geography and the nature of its economy, and I understand that. But that said, you know, in what will be probably about a month's time, we will see people in Sydney travelling again overseas. We will see the amount of time, I believe that you have to spend in quarantine, fall. I welcome the fact that Queensland is now moving towards home quarantine. That's great. Things are moving fast. So I note what's being said. But at the same time, I think Australians will want their lives back and I think they'll make that pretty clear.
JOURNALIST: France. The French are going to be sending back their Ambassador. Now, the French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that to get out of this crisis, as he describes it, there will have to be strong acts instead of just words. Are you planning any joint activity with France in the region to kind of heal wounds? And on Taiwan, what message did Tony Abbott take to the Taiwanese Government, if any, on behalf of your Government?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Tony is in Taiwan as a private citizen, and I didn't have any conversation with him before that. Tony has served as my envoy to India, and so when he went to India, we obviously spoke. But Tony is there as a private citizen. So what he said and what messages he passed on, he passed on in that capacity. In relation to the other matter that you raise, I welcome the fact that the ambassador will be returning to Australia. I think that's a good thing and I think that was always going to happen after the consultations that were had and look forward to taking the relationship forward. It's not a matter, frankly, of what additional things we're putting on our cooperation. We already have cooperation. See, the Australia-France relationship is bigger than a contract. And France's presence and significance and influence in the Indo-Pacific isn't about a contract. It's about the fact that they have an actual presence here in the Indo-Pacific, that they have a long standing commitment and work with Australia across a whole range of different issues. I mean, we have other defence contracts with France. We have $32 billion worth of contracts with French, not just French, but European contractors. So France already has a significant and long standing role and future here, and we welcome that. So it's a matter of basically picking up on all the things we were working on and continuing on with them because they're very significant. They're wide ranging. They're very much in our interests and France's interests and we look forward to just getting on with that job.
JOURNALIST: Dominic Perrottet, has he spoken to you about what he calls an unacceptable GST distribution? He wants to launch a big debate over it. Given you've unequivocally ruled out any GST changes, do you think this ongoing commentary is unhelpful given it's prompting a battle between states? We should be focusing on COVID, do you reckon he should pipe down? What are your thoughts?
PRIME MINISTER: The GST is not changing.
JOURNALIST: And do you think these comments are unhelpful?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, he can make, he's at liberty to make whatever comments he likes as the New South Wales Premier. But the Commonwealth's position is rock solid. Very clear. I authored the deal, I inked the deal, I'll keep the deal.
JOURNALIST: The Government has a very long to do list for the remaining sitting weeks of Parliament. You've got the National Integrity Commission, you've got religious discrimination laws. Barnaby Joyce added to the to do list this morning by calling for a crackdown on misinformation on social media. Which of these will you guarantee that the Government will deliver before the next election?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've made great progress, particularly on the first two you've mentioned, but that all depends on, you know, the support we're able to secure. I would like to see things like that pursued, progressed with support right across the parliament, but we'll just wait and see what that is. You know, I'm not one to go and waste the parliament's time on issues if they're not interested in pursuing these things. But we'll certainly do the work on our side and make the Government's position very clear on these things. Whether that has support will determine how we progress with it. On the latter matter, I'll pick up and add my voice to Barnaby's. And indeed, as the Attorney General has indicated, you know, cowards who go anonymously on to social media and vilify people and harass them and bully them and engage in defamatory statements. They need to be responsible for what they're saying. I mean, I can't come out here and you can't come here and start doing things like that. We all know who each of us are. We're responsible for the things that we say and that we do. But yet social media has become a coward's palace where people can just go on there, not say who they are, destroy people's lives and say the most foul and offensive things to people and do so with impunity. Now that's not a free country where that happens. That's not right. They should have to identify who they are and you know, the companies, if they're not going to say who they are, well, they're not a platform anymore. They're a publisher. They're a publisher. And you know what the implications of that means in terms of those issues. So people should be responsible for what they say, in a country that believes in free speech, I think that's very important. And I think that issue is and the technology that enables it and the lack of accountability that sits around it is just not on. And you can expect us to be leaning even further into this. You know that Minister Fletcher has already taken frankly, Australia has a world leading stance when it comes to cracking down on cyber bullying and harassment. And Erin Molan's bill, as I like to call it, did a great job and we work closely with her and so many others. I mean, Australia has been more forward thinking and advanced when it comes to holding big social media companies to account whether it's paying their taxes, doing the right thing in terms of competition, so they don't shut down private media around and free media around the world and indeed in stopping bullying and harassment. We have been a world leader on this and we intend to set the pace because we value our free society and in a free society, you can't be a coward and attack people and expect not to be held accountable for it. Got time for one more. I'm sorry, Kat. I'll give you one too.
JOURNALIST: In the interests of transparency, can you be clear? Will the Liberal Party, you, countenance a deal with the National Party over net zero that transfers the the risks of the transition onto taxpayers, either through a loan guarantee, a jobs guarantee, an insurance guarantee?
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I thought you were talking about a carbon tax then when you're talking about transferring the burden onto Australians. That's what a carbon tax does. We will work through this issue within the Government and will settle the Government's position. And we'll be advising that before we go to COP26 and we will do that within the cabinet and the government process. That's the appropriate way to run a country.
JOURNALIST: On the French sub deal, the French Foreign Minister has indicated that Australia has to remain in that contract for another two years. Do you know yet how much this deal is going to cost us in the end?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, we have a very good understanding of how we're going to proceed with that matter and we'll be working within the contract as it is set out. Let me just be really clear. Australia makes decisions in our national interest. We understand very well the many sensitivities and stability issues within the Indo-Pacific and the responsibility of my Government is to put Australia's national interests first. We respect all of our partners we will work closely with them all. I think one of the misunderstandings has been that in going down this path, there was some suggestion by others that this was to the exclusion of the participation of so many other friends and like mindeds in the Indo-Pacific. Quite the contrary. And I welcome the opportunity, particularly when I was in New York, to make that point very clearly. And even in these last few days, while I've been here in quarantine, I've spoken to the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Justin Trudeau again after his re-election. Again, speaking to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and many others just working through all these issues.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: That time will come. I have no doubt. I look forward to our first meeting again, our first phone call again. We've worked together very closely and I'm looking forward to getting through what is a difficult period. I acknowledge it's a difficult period. Of course it is. There was no way that we could have taken this decision without it having and causing deep disappointment and hurt to France. There's no way we could have avoided that. But you know, that's the thing about difficult decisions. To take difficult decisions, you need to be conscious of what the implications of those are. But understand what the greater benefit is to Australia's national interests. That's what I did on the subs. That's what I've done on AUKUS. I've put Australia's national security interests first, and now I will work to ensure that we deal with the other issues that flow from that. Otherwise, you know, you don't just get anything done. And that's what I sought to do was the right decision for Australia. And I look forward to ensuring that we work closely with our French partners here in our region, where I know they have great passion, great commitment and will continue to play a massive role because they always have. Thanks very much for your time.
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.