Speeches

Lachlan Nicolson 27/2/22 Lachlan Nicolson 27/2/22

Remarks, St Andrews Ukrainian Church - Lidcombe, NSW

PRIME MINISTER: …To members of St Andrew’s, to my colleagues who are joining me. Dr Fiona Martin, the Member for Reid, the Minister for Immigration, my dear friend Alex Hawke who is here and Ben Morton, the Special Minister of State. Jenny and I, this is where we wanted to be today. We've come from our own church in Sutherland this morning, where I had the great privilege to lead prayers in my own church community, for Ukraine.

I want to thank you for inviting us to be part of this liturgy, because you know all around the world, here in Australia, and as the sun rises all around the globe, people of faith will be coming together of every denomination, in every church and some of those churches will be in ruins, like they will be in Ukraine. And they'll be praying. And they will find strength from their faith, from their fellowship and from their community. A community that isn't just the large numbers gathered here, but a community of faith which spans the world and they will gain great strength and courage and peace from that faith which [inaudible] spoken about this morning.

Now, this morning. I've come here this morning with Jenny to offer prayers and to offer encouragement because it is not just specifically the communities of faith, but the Australian community as a whole who I know has thrown its arms and held tightly the more than 40,000 Australians of Ukrainian ancestry here in this country and to extend every fibre of their support, encouragement and love to the people of Ukraine.

Peace is not just the absence of war. Peace is the absence of threat, of violence, of persecution, of subjugation. It is what so many Australians of Ukrainian ancestry came to this country to enjoy, to live, to raise their families. And here you are. Splendid, in your homeland dress. It is not just the absence of war and on occasion, peace requires great strength and courage. We have already heard of the brave young man, and I will attempt to pronounce, Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych, an engineer who set up mines on a bridge to deter the Russian advance. The advance was too fast, he could flee or finish the job. He stayed on the bridge and he detonated, as the Reverend Father said, an act of love, but an act of courage for peace. Because peace takes courage. We don't seek a peace in Ukraine that is based on bending the knee to an autocrat and a thug. We seek a peace that is the sovereignty of Ukraine. That is what peace is for and that is what the world community demands.

The other prayer I have for peace this morning with you is a prayer of peace, for comfort. That in your great anxiety and in your great concern for your loved ones and for your community, for your homeland, and that you will find that peace and that comfort, in one another. And then those as the shells fall and the bullets ring out in their cities and their suburbs, that they will find in that noise and in that terror, a peace in their faith. But, you know, most of all, as Christians we know that no shells, no bullets, no tyrants can silence faith, can subjugate faith, can take from you the peace of your faith, and I want to encourage you all in that today as we raise up our prayers like a fragrant offering, just like the incense let those prayers ascend to the heaven. And may mercy reign down. And may compassion reign down. It says in Corinthians that that these things, faith, hope and love the greatest of all of them, may they all endure as I know they will in your hearts.

Eight years ago, after MH17 was downed by Russian rockets, our then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was a great friend of Ukraine and this community, spoke at the memorial service for the 38 Australians who perished. And he ended his address with a simple prayer, a prayer I wish to conclude with today. And it is this. May the God of Mercy comfort those left behind and may the God of Justice answer all our prayers. Amen.

Lachlan Nicolson 27/2/22 Lachlan Nicolson 27/2/22

Remarks, St Andrews Ukrainian Church - Lidcombe, NSW

27 February 2022

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43823

Jisoo Kim 25/2/22 Jisoo Kim 25/2/22

Press Conference - Adelaide, SA

25 February 2022

PRIME MINISTER: I'm very pleased to be here today in the fastest growing state, fastest growing state economy in Australia today with Premier Marshall. And to be joined by Dr Rachel Swift and Amy Grantham, candidates here at the next federal election. Thanks to everyone here for hosting us here today. And of course, Minister Price, the Minister for the Defence, Industry, Science and Technology, and Simon Birmingham, the Minister for Finance and Senator for South Australia.

Before I get to the important announcements we have to make today, I would like to make some statements regarding the situation in Ukraine. We continue to be extremely concerned with the terrible violence that we have seen inflicted on the people of Ukraine by Russia, unwarranted, unprovoked. Today, Australia will be imposing further sanctions on oligarchs whose economic weight is of strategic significance to Moscow. And over 300 members of the Russian Duma, their parliament, who voted to authorise the use of Russian troops in Ukraine to illegally invade Ukraine. We are also working with the United States to align with their further sanctions overnight on key Belarussian individuals and entities complicit in the aggression. So we are extending those sanctions to Belarus. These sanctions are being prepared in close coordination with our allies and partners. This has been done to demonstrate very forcefully that we are all working together to shut Russia out as a result of their violence, and there are unlawful actions, which are unprovoked. We have already announced two rounds of sanctions targeting culpable and prominent Russian individuals, banks and companies, and we have also seen overnight the latest measures announced by our key partners, including the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as very strong statements from Japan and South Korea. I also welcome the statements from Indonesia. As I have made clear all along, we will work along with our partners for a rolling wave of sanctions and continuing to ratchet up that pressure on Russia. We understand the concern that the threat of sanctions did not lead to them not going ahead. That was not our expectation. Russia has been planning these acts of violence for some considerable period of time, but there must be a cost. There must be a price and it must be imposed by the global community. Now I want to make a few more comments about that in a second. I also want to confirm that we have been working with NATO to ensure that we can provide non-lethal military equipment and medical supplies to support the people of Ukraine. That is the most effective way for us to do that. We are a long way from Ukraine, and the most effective way is to be doing that through our NATO partners to ensure that we can support that commitment, we are providing financial support as well as a commitment through that NATO channel. And I know that people here in Australia, some 40,000 Australians of Ukrainian descent, will welcome that action. We cannot go into too much detail about all those sorts of issues, and the other supports we're providing to NATO and our partners in their efforts and supporting Ukraine, but you can rest assured that we are working very closely with those partners and allies to support them in their time of need. We have people embedded in a range of different roles and they are doing an excellent job. We still have not not had any confirmed reports of cyber-attacks here in Australia. But at the same time, we advise everyone to remain on high alert. And I want to come back to this issue of the need for the world, the global community, to impose these sanctions and to condemn in the strongest possible terms what is occurring in Ukraine. And I particularly have been concerned at the lack of a strong response from China.

Overnight, it was uploaded, the reporter is in the South China Morning Post today, at a time when the world was seeking to put additional sanctions on Russia, they have eased restrictions on trade of Russian wheat into China. So at a time when Australia, together with the United Kingdom, together with the United States and Europe and Japan, are acting to cut off Russia, the Chinese Government is following through on easing trade restrictions with Russia, and that is simply unacceptable. China seeks to play a positive role in world affairs. They say they seek peace and I welcome those sentiments and I welcome their comments, which talk about trying to get to a position where these violent acts can cease. But that said, you don't go and throw a lifeline to Russia in the middle of a period when they're invading another country. That is simply unacceptable from the reports that we have seen, and I would urge all nations to say this is not a time to be easing trade restrictions with Russia, we should all be doing the exact opposite. And I would call on everyone here in Australia, as well as overseas, to note this and urge all nations to join the sanctions against Russia.

Now I've also said this, you might have seen a Tweet I put out earlier today, in relation to international sporting events that are scheduled to be held in Russia this year. The F1 should not be held. It should not be held in Russia. The men's volleyball international tournament should not be held there. I commend those Australians who are saying they won't participate in anything that is occurring in Russia this year. International sporting bodies, and I note a number of them and international sporting activities, are already joining that call, and I welcome it very much. But this is the way you impose a cost on Russia that is invading its neighbour. I'm also concerned that there is some suggestion in the comments that have been made by the Chinese Government that there is some sort of security pretext for the invasion that is taking place. There is none. Ukraine presents no threat to Russia. They are the victim of hostile, aggressive and unlawful actions and should be called out as such, particularly by very large global powers who should not be sending them a lifeline.

But let's turn to more positive events, where we are here today. And I'm very thrilled to be here, particularly with Premier Marshall to make further announcements today of $65 million in funding for the fast tracking of Australia's access to space measure. Where we are standing, in this amazing Lot 14 Precinct, this is the great vision of Premier Marshall. None of this would have happened without Premier Marshall. In fact, the great turnaround of South Australia over these last four years has been extraordinary. I remember coming, as the Treasurer, I remember South Australians telling me how people were leaving the state and businesses were having to go elsewhere, but the partnership that Premier Marshall has formed with our Government has led, because of his unrelenting energy and advocacy, to us establishing the National Space Centre here, right here in Lot 14, the anchor tenant, if you like, which has drawn together cyber industry, space industries and is creating amazing opportunities for young talented people who are coming here and working here, moving to South Australia, from other states and indeed from overseas. This is the place to be if you want to be in the space sector and the space sector, as you know, is one of our key industry sectors that we are focusing on as part of our sovereign manufacturing capability. That program already has generated around $1 billion of investment that has already gone in across those six sectors. I'm talking about once every dollar the Commonwealth Government has put in, we've been able to get another $2 in the investments that have already been made. So we've got over $300 million already invested right across those six key sectors that has leveraged another $670 million and the fund itself is $1.5 billion. So imagine just how much more we're going to be able to boost sovereign manufacturing capability through the great success of this initiative. Boosting sovereign manufacturing capability is part of our Government's national economic plan to see a surge out of the pandemic. It is one of the reasons, it is the principal reason, that Australia has one of the strongest advanced economies in the world coming out of this pandemic. And it is occurring because we have had a strong plan, a strong plan that has meant manufacturing things, making things here in Australia. To the specifics, which Minister Price will go into, is $32.5 million for the procurement of the provision of space flights, to ensure that Australian companies who are involved in the space industry can get that firsthand experience as flight qualification to be participating in those missions. We are co-investing $32.3 million to support the development of up to three new or existing complementary space launch sites across Australia, and it's also about putting Australians into space, working with NASA and other international partners to get an Australian back into space. So we are launch nation with what we're doing here to invest in these launch facilities. We are a Space Nation when it comes to ensuring that Australians will have their equipment, which is being developed right here in South Australia up in space. And we are an astronaut nation in getting Australians back into space as part of these initiatives. So very exciting.

I'm going to ask Premier Marshall now to talk about what this means for South Australia. In doing so, what Premier Marshall has been able to do here in South Australia in his time as Premier has turned this state around. South Australia is now contributing to the national economic growth of this country. And that is occurring because of the entrepreneurial premiership of Steven Marshall. This has to be bedded in, this has to be locked in. This is not a time for South Australia to turn back to where they were before. In order for these incredible gains to be realised into the future, the return of the Marshall Government here in South Australia is an absolute necessity to continue to see that optimism and that positivity, that the most optimistic and positive person in Australian politics has been able to bring. With that, I'll bring you Mr Smiles.

THE HON. STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. It's fantastic to have you, and of course, Melissa Price, the Minister for Defence, Industry, Science and Innovation here on Lot 14 for this exciting announcement today. We are very grateful to have you here. Before I make comments regarding your announcement today, can I just commend the Prime Minister for his strong response to the deteriorating and dangerous situation that is occurring in Ukraine. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian community here in Australia, more specifically in South Australia. Immediately after this press conference, the Prime Minister and I will be heading, with Senator Birmingham, down to meet leaders in the Ukrainian community.

But today's announcement is absolutely fantastic for Australia, but more specifically for South Australia – the space state. This is absolutely great news for business, for jobs, and it shows that not even the sky is the limit in creating and opening up opportunities for our children and our grandchildren. Make no mistake, this next election in South Australia is all about creating a stronger future, having a strong recovery out of COVID, and cementing in those great opportunities for our next generation. Now, we are in a space station in Australia, but this wouldn't have happened without great cooperation with the federal government. It wasn't that long ago that we were the only OECD country without a space agency. It was the coalition that decided that we would have a space agency. And it was Prime Minister Morrison who announced that the space agency headquarters would be right here on Lot 14 in the centre of our CBD, Adelaide. And since then, we've also been able to attract investment from the federal government to establish Australia's mission control here and Space Discovery Centre. It's been a true partnership. We now have 1,600 people employed in the space sector in South Australia. And today's announcements will make sure that we have thousands more into the future and this will create great opportunities for students that are currently at school, it will attract people back to South Australia and I think it will be bringing people in from overseas. You see, before, for people that wanted to go and get involved in the space agency, they needed to move overseas. It wasn't the space agency in Australia of any scale. Now, with these investments from the federal government, there are just so many opportunities for our next generation and we are very proud in South Australia with what has occurred. We're now building satellites in the CBD on Lot 14. This morning, the Prime Minister, the Minister and myself, took a look at what's happening at Inovor and over at Neumann Space. They're building satellites for the Department of Defence and the CSIRO. They're also building our own satellite here for South Australia with two fantastic payloads one Internet of Things, one for Earth observation. That will enthuse a next generation of students who are interested in what we can do in space, taking that data. We're here at Myriota at the moment, a fantastic company, which has raised tens and tens and tens of millions of dollars and brought it here to Adelaide to develop innovative products which are transforming lives, improving productivity, opening up new opportunities for the next generation. So it's fair to say we are very enthused about space. You would have heard recently that we've announced that we will be establishing Australia's space manufacturing park down on the Adelaide Airport Precinct. We've committed to another 15,000 square metres down there, on top of the 5,000 square metres in the [inaudible] building. There is just so much opportunity. Today's announcement is great for business, it's great for jobs and shows that not even the sky's the limit in opening up new opportunities for our children and our grandchildren. It's now my pleasure to introduce Melissa Price to tell us a little bit more about today's announcement.

THE HON MELISSA PRICE MP, MINISTER FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Thank you Premier, great to be here. I think it's fair to say, that from the comments from our Prime Minister and the Premier, that there's never been a better time or more time for us to be focusing on the development of our space industry. The Morrison government is very ambitious for our space industry. We've already invested $850 million and today we're talking about continuing with that investment. Just like we've done with our defence industry here in South Australia, we're determine that we're going to grow our capability more and more and in fact, once we fill up lot 14, and I'm not sure that's not very far away Premier, we'll then have to think about what Lot 15 looks like. Because we are on the move. We are going to space.

Today's announcement focuses on two areas. The first area is making sure that if you're an innovator, you're just leaving uni or indeed you're someone already here in Lot 14, and you want to get your technology into space, you want to test it out. That's a very expensive exercise. We've been hearing about that today. So what we’re going to do, obviously with our Australian Space Agency, we're going to work hard to make sure that we help to invest in, effectively a ticket to ride. So that's the first part of the announcement. The second half relates to launch site. So if you like, the airports for space missions, and that will be incredibly important for us, we're co-investing, we've developed three space ports around Australia. And you can imagine in regional areas that will be very important. And this is going to make us globally competitive. This is going to ensure that Australia gets the attention of the overseas market, and I'm sure there's plenty of people here in Lot 14 that are thinking about how they're going to be involved in the next launch of their fabulous product. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I please ask, the Ukrainian President says 137 people have died in the invasion, and his country has been left alone to fight Russia. Sanctions from the West have focused on the financial sector. Is there more that can be done?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've already mentioned in particular the other support we're providing through NATO directly to assist in the operations that are being undertaken there. The other important one is the denying access to Swift, which is the international payment system. We would support that very, very strongly. That should be done, that's not something Australia can do unilaterally as something that particularly needs the involvement of the United States because of the US currency that is supporting that system, and I note that Prime Minister Johnson has made similar remarks. And Australian would strongly support denying Russia access to Swift, the international payment system. And because this is all about ensuring they get cut off and that is the price that is paid. But for that to occur it has to occur with countries all around the world. And so I would call on other nations, particularly on those who are involved in Swift, to join that call to deny Russia access to that payment system.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister why do you think it is we're seeing hesitation from other countries who have locked into to that system. Are you sensing hesitation from Europe and other countries?

PRIME MINISTER: Well I would urge Europe to join in these calls and do this. There is no doubt that we need Europe involved in seeking to stop people who are coercing and bullying others including ourselves. Australia has often found that you will often have to bear some cost yourself for doing so. But when issues are as they are, when you have a bullying, threatening, violence act being undertaken on an innocent state in the Ukraine then these things are necessary to do, so I would urge people to to lose that resistance. This is very important that they do this. I mean, the suggestion that there is some security pretext by Russia for this invasion, which has been suggested by the Chinese Government, is completely unacceptable. That is not the case. There is no pretext for Russia to violently invade Ukraine. There is not some concession that Ukraine should have been making. There was no threat that Ukraine was making against Russia. So this suggestion that somehow it takes two to cause this. No it only took one and the world should be shutting that one out in Russia.

JOURNALIST: You said that you'd match the US sanctions overnight. Would you consider sending troops in from Australia as part of the AUKUS pact?

PRIME MINISTER: Well there's no suggestion that the United States is sending troops in.

JOURNALIST: If it gets to a point?

PRIME MINISTER: But it's not getting to that point. The US have made that very clear.

JOURNALIST: But the US is sending in troops to Germany.

PRIME MINISTER: This would be done under NATO.

JOURNALIST: What about military medics, would you consider that?

PRIME MINISTER: We're going to work closely with NATO as to how we best provide support, and that is being worked through every single day. And so there will be no hesitation if there are ways Australia can assist those efforts, whether it's medical packs or other things like this. Then we stand ready to do that.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve been strong on these calls for China to condemn this, do you think that Joe Biden should be doing the same?

PRIME MINISTER: I'm talking about what Australia thinks should happen and I'm being really clear, and I think other Australians should be doing the same thing when it comes to calling this out. I mean, while the world's focus is very much on what's understandably occurring in Europe, my focus is always very focused on keeping Australia safe and ensuring there's a clear understanding about what's occurring in our region. And it is concerning that the largest country in our region has suggested there's some security pretext for Russia to have invaded Ukraine. And as I said, the South China Morning Post reports, the uploading of that protocol at a time when the Western world is actually imposing sanctions on Russia, the Chinese Government is easing trade restrictions on Russia. So that is inexplicable, and I think it is important to call this out. I've never hesitated in calling these things out. I've been criticized for calling it out. But on this, at present time, I've been a bit of a solo voice, but I can tell you my voice will not be silenced on this. This is of great concern to Australia, that these acts are not being called out with the same voice when it comes to those in our region, and this needs to be understood

JOURNALIST: Is there a limit to which Australia will be lockstep with the US, if there is a military solution. Are you committing Australia to join that, if that's what the request?

PRIME MINISTER: There's no suggestion of that.

JOURNALIST: No, I understand there's no suggestion at this point, but in the past we have. Are you willing to go that far if that's what’s requested?

PRIME MINISTER: It is very unhelpful in the middle of a global conflict like this for people will be running around speculating about things that are not under consideration, are not on the table, and just unlikely in any event to occur. So I wouldn't want to put any Australians through the concern or anxiety about that being a prospect. There's no prospect of that appearing as a decision the Australian government would have to make, so I don't think it's helpful to create that speculation when there is no such speculation.

JOURNALIST: Russia says that Europe could pay $3000 for 1000 cubic metres of natural gas. We've got a fair bit of that. Would we be willing to transport gas to Europe to help?

PRIME MINISTER: No, I've seen those reports and we worked through that with Treasury and the Department of Industry. The way our gas mechanism works is we need to ensure the gas supply in Australia is provided for or people will be four times what they currently are for gas. The fact that we were able to put in place a memorandum of understanding with our gas suppliers means that gas prices in Australia are 75 per cent lower than they would otherwise been. And I can ensure Australians that I won't be doing something that would further impact on the economic issues because of this global conflict. And of course we will see global conflict, we will see what we believe will be a short term impact on fuel prices. But the Minister for Energy has already made some remarks about how we're taking action on that. Last question, this is a very important issue, but you may wish to ask also some questions about space and the announcements we've made today.

JOURNALIST: Still on the Ukraine, though, Joe Biden has called Putin a tyrant, Boris Johnson calls him a dictator. What do you call him?

PRIME MINISTER: I call him a thug.

JOURNALIST: China and Russia earlier this month signed a 5000 Euro statement in part [inaudible] made a warning about the expansion of NATO. Do you fear that what we're seeing in Ukraine is the beginning of a change in the world order?

PRIME MINISTER: I've been warning about this for years. This is not a new point that I've been making about the alignment of authoritarian and autocratic regimes in our world. I've been saying this for years. Others have said I've been alarmist. Others have said I've been speaking out of turn. I've been calling this out for years, and that's why our government has taken the strong actions that we have, whether it's been the formation of AUKUS. And have Admiral Mead and the team who are in Adelaide right now actioning what we've agreed to do as part of AUKUS. AUKUS was the most significant defence security agreement reached since ANZUS, and that was put in place by me and our government to keep Australians safe. The elevation of the QUAD to a leader's level dialogue, which isn't just dealing with security issues, but importantly is dealing with economic security issues, supply chain issues, humanitarian support and economic development within the Indo-Pacific region and being a positive, very positive force within the region to ensure that countries can have greater confidence in their economic and their political sovereignty. It's very important to the Indo-Pacific. So I have long held that view and I have been the advocate of that view in every single international forum I can get to. I was the one who went to the G7 and threw the 14 points down the table about how Australia was being coerced by China, by the Chinese government. And so I share your assessment but it's one that I've been advocating for greater understanding of for some time.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Beijing says diplomatic channels are open and it’s prepared to meet Australia half way. What is the government going to do and do you consider that a genuine olive branch?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, diplomatic channels are not underway when ministers and political leaders are not prepared to meet with ministers and political leaders here in Australia. That's just a simple fact. And in terms of meeting halfway, there are 14 points, I don't agree with changing any them. So happy to have the dialogue. Happy to have the ministerial and political level dialogue. But those 14 points are not for negotiating. I'm happy to take a question or two on space.

JOURNALIST: Just on local political issues. You're here during election campaign. Earlier this week, the state government committed $25 million to rebuilding the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, but it's contingent on matched federal funds. Have you committed or will you commit those funds?

PRIME MINISTER: I'll let the Finance Minister speak on these issues.

THE HON. SIMON BIRMINGHAM, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Thanks PM. We've certainly received advocacy from the Premier, from the state member for Adelaide, from the Lord Mayor in terms of briefings about that project, like any such project we will consider the merits of it through the usual grant and assessment processes, and of course we will work closely as we have constructively with the Marshall government if re-elected in relation to delivery of critical infrastructure projects.

JOURNALIST: So you won't commit to the funding before the election?

THE HON. SIMON BIRMINGHAM, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Tom, we'll work through our normal processes. The state government’s made their policy position clear and their support for the aquatic centre clear.

JOURNALIST: Can I ask Prime Minister on sport, what would be achieved by banning Russia from international sport? And should that be extend to their participation to international sport?

PRIME MINISTER: I have no objection to those issues whatsoever and I think we should be taking every step we can to ensure Russia pays a price in the international community for their violent and aggressive acts in relation to their action against Ukraine. So, bring forward suggestions is my view. And whether it's the F1 Grand Prix or any of the other events that I've spoken about. It's important that these world bodies understand fully what's going on and we've already seen that decision with the UEFA Cup being made, I applaud it, well done. The rest of the world should be cutting off. Now we don't have any beef with the people of Russia and I particularly want to commend the brave Russian citizens who have actually stood up in protest against the violent actions of their government. That's incredible courage. And I want to send a message of support to Australians of all Russian heritage here, just as I have to Australians of Ukrainian heritage. They will be saddened and devastated by these events, as any other Australian. And I want to thank them for their support and for their great contribution to our country. But I'm actually going to have to start moving.

JOURNALIST: Can I have one question on the Ukraine?

PRIME MINISTER: Sure.

JOURNALIST: Will the government consider providing more detail about what visas Ukrainian Australians can access to bring their relatives here? SBS has spoken to people who are really worried about their families, who are confused about visa options and [inaudible].

PRIME MINISTER: Well, Minister Hawke met with the Ukrainian community leaders yesterday. On these issues, there are two components. The first component is that all those who have standing applications for visas, now that could be family reunion visas, skill visas, student visas, any number of visas to come to Australia. I'm advised we have 430 of those and they have been put to the top of the pile for priority resolution and we will seek, in all the normal circumstances, to grant those visas. The only visas that wouldn't be possible are for security reasons or things of that nature, which is understandable. And that means we can fast track the awarding of those visas as quickly as we possibly can. Which would enable those Ukrainian citizens to come to Australia. I made this point to the Prime Minister the other night when we spoke. There are a range of different visas, it's not just humanitarian visas, that they may seek and we have ample room within our program to accommodate those. But Ukrainian citizens also would be seeking to make applications for skilled visas and many other types of visas, student visas, and they are very welcome to do so. And should they do so, they will have the same priority that's being given to those ones that are currently on foot. And we need those skills. And so if sadly, Ukrainian citizens have to leave their country, well they will find a great home here in Australia, where so many others have come before them and made a tremendous contribution to Australia. But right now I'm going to meet a number of them who are proud South Australians. Thank you.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43822

Jisoo Kim 24/2/22 Jisoo Kim 24/2/22

Press Conference - Sydney, NSW

24 February 2022

PRIME MINISTER: At 2:00 p.m this afternoon, the Russian Government declared that they had commenced a so-called ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine. And they said this after months of aggression and intimidation. But I'll call it what it is. The Russian Government launched a brutal invasion, unprovoked, on Ukraine and should be condemned for doing so, and Australia does. Together with the international community, we are banding together in strong terms to condemn these outrageous acts in the strongest possible terms. The footage that is emerging of missile strikes, air raid sirens and reports of hundreds of casualties, yet unconfirmed, are sadly not surprising given the events we have been witnessing for some time now and have been warning about. But even as these events continue to take place, we do call on the Russian Government to withdraw and return Ukraine to a peaceful situation. We denounce what are unilateral hostile actions in Ukraine. Russia is flagrantly breaching international law and the UN and the UN charter. Russia has chosen war.

So we reiterate our staunch support, which I was able to convey to the Ukrainian Prime Minister last night, about their sovereignty and their territorial integrity. These acts are of great concern, I think, to Australians right across the country, but particularly with just over 40,000 Australians of Ukrainian descent. Earlier today, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs met with community leaders from the Ukrainian community of Australia, some 18, to hear from them directly, to answer questions about the arrangements Australia is putting in place. And I thank them for working closely with the government and I thank them for their leadership in the community.As I said this morning, also, I want to send a particular message to Australian’s Russian descent , I know that they will also be feeling terrible about these events, whether they are of Ukrainian descent or Russian descent, we're all Australians and we thank them for their contribution to Australia, and we stand together with them as Australians.

My message to those Australians who continue to be in Ukraine is to, where safe to do so, leave. We have been saying this for some time now. Australians in Ukraine who are unable to leave should shelter in place until it is safe to depart, to monitor Smart Traveller travel advice for updates and register their whereabouts on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s online portal. It's important that they do this. We believe there's an up to around an estimated 1,400 Australians in Ukraine, but that is not the number that we currently have registered formally through those processes. Australians in Ukraine who require consular support should call the Australian government 24-hour consular emergency centre on 1300 555 135. That number again 1300 555 135, or here in Australia on +61 2 6261 3305, if you're outside of Australia. We will seek to provide support to the extent that we can in these exceptionally difficult circumstances, and I want to thank the diplomatic staff who remain in the region to do just that.

Before Russia took these deplorable steps, Australia had already imposed autonomous sanctions against Russia, targeting both individuals and entities for undermining Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Today, we continue to go further, acting with our close partners, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, those in Europe and NATO in condemning Russia's actions. Yesterday, I announced sanctions and travel bans on eight members of Russia's Security Council. They will come into effect at midnight this evening. This council bears responsibility for the current phase of the invasion, including President Putin's declaration regarding Donetsk and Luhansk. I've also announced financial sanctions, which mean Australian individuals and entities cannot do business with five Russian banks, and this was in addition to restrictions on Australians investing in the state development bank VEB.

We are now progressing the second phase of those financial sanctions, of sanctions. The Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Birmingham, has completed the process of applying sanctions to an additional 25 persons - this includes army commanders, deputy defence ministers and Russian mercenaries who have been responsible for the unprovoked and unacceptable aggression - and four entities involved in the development and sale of military technology and weapons. We are now moving to place restrictions on Australians investing in a further four financial institutions. There will be further waves of sanctions as we identify those responsible for these egregious acts, including, as I discussed this afternoon with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, moving on around over 300 members of the Russian Parliament.

We must ensure there is a cost for this violent and unacceptable and egregious behaviour. There must be a cost. As I said today, we firmly believed that because of the actions of Russia over many months to prepare for this, that it was unlikely that they would change course. But there always must be a cost for such reprehensible violence and the way this is being done in Ukraine as we speak.

The government is also engaging with our partners and businesses to make sure we are mitigating risks to critical supply chains, and we will continue to work closely with Australian business to manage those risks. In briefings received this afternoon we have still no evidence of any state sanctioned cyber attacks on Australian assets here, but I thank the corporate community for the preparations that they've been undertaking and working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre to prepare themselves. I assure you that Australia stands ready to support internationally coordinated action to respond to any price or supply shocks in energy markets.

But right now, our thoughts are very much with those in Ukraine. Tthose who are enduring terrible invasion as the bombs fall and the shelling continues and the bullets are fired, as special forces from Russia are moving towards Kyiv and tanks are rolling in all around their borders. This is a chilling reminder of the world that we live in and where the threats and aggression of bullies and those who seek to intimidate others, to seek their own advantage. This is a reality. It is reality of this world, which means that like minded countries, those who believe in a world that favours freedom, need to stand together and need to ensure we have the proper defences and security arrangements to keep our people safe. This is why Australia was always taking such a strong stand. Right now we have, we are very concerned about all the people of Ukraine and we pray for their safety. But we also know that they are suffering a terrible ordeal at the hands of a terrible aggressor. Happy to take some questions.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, realistically, will these extra sanctions have any impact? And will you consider doing what members of the Ukrainian diaspora is asking, which is supplying military arms to the country?

PRIME MINISTER: The latter is not something the Australian Government has been requested working with our partners in the region and we work closely with NATO and member states. What we are doing is working with them in other ways. I cannot go into a lot of detail about. Sanctions of the order that I have outlined matter. They do have an impact on those individuals, particularly when they’re done in concert with other countries, like those I've mentioned. And that's why I think it's important that all countries engage in these sanctions against these individuals. It sends a very clear message. You sanction, support, benefit from this type of violence then you will be isolated, you will be targeted, your assets will be frozen, you will not be able to go about your life freely. You will be tracked down and you will have your and your livelihoods completely disrupted in the same way that they are seeking to disrupt the lives of others. So I have a very strong view that the sanctions do matter, should be undertaken and we will continue to press forward with them under the laws that our government put in place to enable us to do just this very thing.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned military technical assistance, previously. Now that we've seen an invasion, what would that look like and do we have a possibility of while not sending troops, engaging in some sort of military support to Ukraine?

PRIME MINISTER: We are involved with our partners in these types of activities, but it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go into detail.

JOURNALIST: What about the Russian Ambassador to Australia. Have you spoken with him since these developments and would you plan to expel him?

PRIME MINISTER: There are no plans on that. Even in moments of terrible conflicts such as this, it is important to maintain channels of communication. That has been the convention and the way these things have been dealt with in the past and it is appropriate for him to have been brought in to speak to the Secretary of DFAT. That has taken place and that dialogue will continue there, but you can be in no doubt about the very stern messages that have been sent to the Ambassador on behalf of the Australian Government.

JOURNALIST: Are you worried that China is going to use this massive instability to launch any action in the Indo-Pacific?

PRIME MINISTER: I think it's important to separate these issues. And I want to make that point in particular to Australians. What I would be asking as I have consistently, welcome this being supported both here in this country and elsewhere. It's important that all countries denounce what is occurring in Russia and Ukraine. It is important that all countries do that. This is an unprovoked, unwarranted, illegal invasion of Ukraine. And the best way to ensure that these acts are condemned is to join the actions of countries like Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan and impose these sanctions to ensure that there is a penalty and there is a cost. And you have to wonder where countries aren’t prepared to do that, what they're prepared to tolerate. We're not prepared to tolerate it. I think it's very important that the world acts together to denounce these terrible and violent acts.

JOURNALIST: Do you intend to meet the Russian Ambassador?

PRIME MINISTER: No, I won't. Messages will be delivered directly to them by the Secretary of the Department of Foreign affairs and Trade and the Minister. That's how these things are done. And as I told you, they’re in no doubt about our views about what the Russian Government is doing illegally in Ukraine and inflicting terrible crimes on the people of Ukraine.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43820

Jisoo Kim 24/2/22 Jisoo Kim 24/2/22

Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW

24 February 2022

PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, everyone. Once again, our thoughts are with Ukraine and the people of Ukraine. Our thoughts this morning are also with the 38,000 Australians of Ukrainian descent who are rightly very concerned about their loved ones, their family, their friends who are in Ukraine and face the threats of intimidation and violence from a nation in Russia that is seeking to bully them to their own ends. I just returned from meeting of the Executive Council with the Governor-General where my government signed the amendments to the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations, which enables us to use the legislation, which provides the framework to target sanctions against individuals. And I stress individuals who are in a situation where they are able to support a regime and act in the interests of Russia to the ends that they are supporting the measures that we're seeing in the Ukraine.

This is important legislation, it is targeted legislation. It adds a whole new tool to our toolkit when it comes to dealing with this illegal, unlawful behaviour. And it's a tool that we're implementing in partnership with our allies and like minded countries, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom. This will be the first tranche of measures that we expect to take. We are taking actions against eight members of Russia's Security Council, a series of banks and financial institutions that I indicated yesterday, and extending existing sanctions on the transport, energy, telecommunications and oil and gas and mineral sectors to Donetsk and Luhansk. As I said, this is giving us the scope to cover people and entities of strategic and economic significance to Russia. So that gives us a broad remit in order to take targeted action. So the sanctions we have put in place aren't just traditionally what you would have seen in the past against a nation more broadly. This goes direct to those individuals who are at the heart of this bullying and aggressive behaviour. It targets their financial interests. It prevents them from travelling. It stops them from moving money around. It stops them from coming and having holidays in countries such as Australia or going shopping in Harrods or doing things of that nature and trying to live their lives as if they had nothing to do with the violence and bullying and intimidation that they are supporting from the Russian regime. The sanctions will become law tomorrow, and they will take effect at the end of March. Now this is important on the legislation because that gives the opportunities for businesses that have had very legitimate operations and business interests in Russia and in the affected territories of Ukraine to be able to make changes to their arrangements. So these are significant sanctions, but we obviously have to give Australian companies and individuals the time to go and make changes to their arrangements in an orderly way. We are working very closely, especially with the United States and the United Kingdom on our list, and our list is longer than the eight that I've just mentioned, and we'll be working closely to develop the cases that will enable us to take further actions against others. And we won't hesitate when we're in possession of that information to take that extra step. We have already had a wider package of sanctions on persons and entities and in reserve. And should Russia choose to escalate its illegal and unlawful conduct in the eastern Ukraine.

Now, I note that many have said, do you think that this will lead to Russia pulling back? I would hope so, but I don't expect so. The reason we're doing this is there must be a price for the unprovoked, unlawful, unwarranted, unjustified attacks and threats and intimidation that is being imposed by Russia on Ukraine. This cannot be a consequence free action by Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime, and it should send a message to any other regime in the world that if you go down this path, if you seek to coerce and bully others, then the world should stand together in targeting those who are directly at the centre of these activities. And this is incredibly important. There must be consequences for violent, coercive and bullying behaviour.

And last night, I spoke with the Ukrainian Prime Minister to reaffirm our unwavering commitment, unwavering commitment. to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and denounced Russia's aggressive behaviour towards Ukraine. The Prime Minister was deeply grateful for two things. First of all, obviously our support for them and the rule of international law and the protections that should afford them. But equally, he was very appreciative of the support and encouragement that was being provided by the Australian people and the support for the people of Ukrainian descent in Australia. And with around 40,000 Australians of Ukrainian descent, and he also shared my view that this isn't an issue about the Russian people, there are more than 80,000 Australians of Russian descent here in Australia. And I want to send them a very clear message. I understand that so many of you, if not all of you, would be equally appalled by the actions of what we see the Russian government do in Ukraine, and all Australians are united, whether they be Russian or Ukrainian descent. That's why they have come to Australia because Australia is a country that values the rule of law and does not bully or coerce our neighbours. And in fact, we stand up to those who do so. I was also able to update the Prime Minister of our immediate action on sanctions, which he welcomed on the banks and organisations, and he was appreciative of the support that they've provided, particularly in the cyber domain.

We discussed a number of other issues about Australia can be helpful. One of the particular issues that I discussed with him was the actions we've taken at the Ukrainian citizens who are currently in Australia, and he was appreciative that we will be extending the visas by six months of those whose visas will conclude by the 30th of June. So that provides the room in the space for those who are in Australia to remain. The second point was that we have put to the top of the pile all Ukrainian applications for visas to come to Australia with some 430 outstanding visa applications, and the Immigration Minister is addressing those as a matter of priority. He also spoke of the support we're prepared to provide in concert with other countries in relation to displaced persons and other humanitarian support that may be necessary. Later today, the Minister for Immigration, Alex Hawke, will be meeting with members of the Ukrainian community here in Australia to further discuss any issues of concern to them. And I spoke to the leader of the committee yesterday, Mr Stefan Romaniw yesterday on those matters.

I also want to make a few comments about the statements made by the Russian Ambassador. The Russian Ambassador was called in yesterday to speak to the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I completely reject the assertions that were made by the Russian Ambassador. The suggestion that somehow Russian soldiers crossing the border and entering eastern Ukraine are peacekeepers is deeply offensive to anyone who's pulled on a uniform as a peacekeeper anywhere in the world which Australia has done right across the world, and as so many countries in the Pacific have as well. They're not peacekeepers, they're invaders. And that's how we see it, and we'll call it out. If they don't like it, that's tough. There is no justification for Russia's aggression in Ukraine, and any attempt to try and create some pretext for it is offensive.

Finally, on the issue of cyber security, there has been an historical pattern of cyber attacks against Ukraine, and that continues now. Malicious cyber activity. Of course, as I said yesterday, it could impact Australian organisations through unintended disruption or uncontained malicious cyber activities and the Australian Cyber Security Centre is not aware of any current or specific threats against Australian organisations, but are adopting an enhanced cyber security posture and have been for some time now, and increased monitoring of threats will help to reduce impacts to Australian organisations. The Australian Cyber Security Centre recommends that organisations urgently adopt an enhanced cyber security posture. This should include reviewing and enhancing detection, mitigation and response measures. Organisations should ensure that logging and detection systems in their environment are fully updated and functioning, and apply additional monitoring to their networks where required. Organisations should also assess their preparedness to respond to any cyber security incidents and should review incident response and business continuity plans. And Cyber Security Centre strongly recommends organisations implement essential eight mitigation strategies from the ACSC's strategies to mitigate cyber security incidents as a baseline. That baseline, known as ‘the essential eight’, makes it harder for adversaries to compromise their systems, and you can visit cyber.gov.au for more advice. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what confidence do you have that any further sanctions will deter Putin?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, as I said before, I don't necessarily expect it to deter an authoritarian, autocratic leader, which is intent on taking opportunity to pursue their own interests by violating another country's borders. Someone who's prepared to do that, and has clearly been preparing to do that for some time, I doubt it necessarily will step back as a result of sanctions being imposed. But you do them because anyone who seeks to do this must face a cost and there will be a cost to Russia's actions. And that's why I continue to stress that it's important for all countries around the world to denounce this behaviour, to join other countries in imposing these sanctions and to apply a very severe cost, particularly on those directly benefiting from this violent behaviour and ensure that they've got no place to run and no place to hide any country that is allowing those who are at the heart of perpetrating this to be able to go about their lives and spend their money, make investments, do all of that is only encouraging this behaviour and they'll get no comfort here in Australia.

JOURNALIST: How much are the sanctions expected to impact Australian businesses, do you know how much investment we have with Russia? And Rex Patrick came out this morning and said diplomats are conducting intelligence operations out of the Russian Embassy. Why not expel some of those given the cyber threats, if not the Ambassador?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the first point out, our trade with Russia is actually quite minor compared to many other countries in making the decisions yesterday, the Treasury Secretary attended that meeting and gave us advice that we could impose these sanctions with minimal impact on Australian businesses, but it is important, as I said under the Autonomous Sanctions Legislation, that there's a period of time for businesses to make adjustments to their arrangements as appropriate. So we are not overly concerned when it comes to the direct impact of our supplies, why? Because sanctions are intended to impact those they're directed towards, not towards those who are imposing them. That's the point of sanctions and how they are conducted and the most potent form of those sanctions are the targeted ones to the individuals. That is now possible because of the stronger laws my government has passed to enable us to do just that. Now I've seen this sort of commentary that have come from others who don't sit in national security committees of cabinet and don't have the benefit of the intelligence and advice and information and staged responses that the government is engaged in. They're at liberty to make their contributions in their comments. But I would simply say that Australia will continue to take a very careful strategic and staged response to this crisis. We've got plenty left in the tank when it comes to further actions that we would take if and when the violence is escalated by Russia. So we will continue, I think, to follow a very disciplined path on this, not a reactive path. We have been discussing this with our partners and allies for some time now, and we will be in lockstep with them in terms of how we go forward.

JOURNALIST: [inaudible] sanctions earlier would have prevented [inaudible] to this point both for Australia and our allies?

PRIME MINISTER: No, not necessarily. I wouldn't say that. Again, sanctions are intended to impose a cost on their behaviour. It is pretty clear, I think to those who had access to the information that we have had access to could draw anything other than the conclusion that President Putin has been intent on this action for some considerable time and that his face is very much set towards this action. That only should strengthen our resolve to impose a heavy cost and a heavy burden and not just for the moment, but over time.

JOURNALIST: So what would those further sanctions potentially look like if we were to go to that next stage?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, if I was in a position to be announcing what they were, I'd be doing that. I tend not to telegraph what our next actions are. I can assure you that we are we have all options on the table when it comes to our diplomatic and other economic sanctions.

JOURNALIST: On like minded countries, Prime Minister, India hasn't said boo. They're remaining neutral, there will be no sanctions. They're a Quad partner of ours. Are you concerned that the Indians might be through a lack of action, aiding and abetting or encouraging, in your words, Vladimir Putin?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I certainly wouldn't refer to them in the same context that I've made remarks about China. I mean, China joined up, voted with Russia in the National Security Council of the UN. India did not do that. And the debate that China and Russia voted to prevent, proceeded and it was not obstructed by India. All countries have different levels of engagement with Russia, other countries in our own region. And so I'm respectful of that. But my position, though, is very, very clear. I think it's important for like-minded countries to be taking the strongest possible action because one day it's a country like Russia threatening the border and seeking to invade Ukraine. And the next day it could be countries in our own region seeking to do the same thing. So my response and Australia's response will always be principled and consistent.

JOURNALIST: On the issue of cyber security, without going into operational matters. Do you feel that the government has the legislative and regulatory framework settings right to allow it to assist private holders of critical infrastructure, banks and telcos, that sort of thing to fend off cyber attacks should they come in a more concerted fashion from Russia?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, certainly the enhancements and the strengthening of those laws that we've put in place under our critical infrastructure legislation, and there are further tranches of that will continue to strengthen that position. Cyber security threats are a constantly escalating task. And so that job is never complete. John Howard used to talk about issues that have an ever receding finishing line. Well, I would put cyber, dealing with the cyber threat, certainly in that category. That's why you want a government that takes it seriously, that takes the initiative that doesn't hesitate in strengthening these laws, which we have always been prepared to do. We set up the critical infrastructure. We reformed our foreign investment rules. We put the tools and enforcement sanctions in place. We called out malicious cyber activity by state actors, by non-state actors, by organised criminals. And we built our capability through our investment in the Australian Cyber Security Centre and a cyber strategy to equip Australian companies as well as government instrumentalities. We briefed state and territory governments constantly about the risks and threats to their own institution and assets. But I would say it's an issue in which we need to be increasingly constantly vigilant.

JOURNALIST: Where do you expect petrol prices to go as a result of this?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, our advice from the International Energy Agency is we do expect there to be a short term and they say, a temporary impact on world oil prices. And I think that is to be expected with the uncertainty and instability that you follow an event of this magnitude that there is nothing to suggest at the moment that would necessarily be a prolonged event, but that could change. I mean oil prices, as we know they go up, they go down. And for many other reasons, those events pretty much completely outside of control of the Australian Government well, in terms of what happens to world oil prices. But we are working with other partners about what collective action that we can take in relation to oil prices and mitigating the shocks that can occur. That's on the issue of of oil prices.

But I would note that our gas security mechanism and the memorandum that we have for the required supply of gas into the Australian domestic market has proved highly effective, highly effective in keeping gas prices in Australia under control to the tune of up to about 75 per cent lower than they might have otherwise been. As a result of what we're seeing in Europe, what does that mean? That means electricity prices are lower. What does that mean? It means that the price of gas feedstock going into manufacturing is lower, which means those businesses which could otherwise be completely overwhelmed by such a surge in gas prices and put them at great risk have been able to continue their operations and remain highly competitive. And so we are monitoring the impacts on obviously on energy prices and working with the IEA. And Minister Taylor will have a bit more to say about that later today. But you know, there are some things within Australia's control and we're taking action on those. The ACCC, for example, is already tasked and they already have the powers and laws and have had more powers and more laws to strengthen their arm provided by this government than any other. And anyone who seeks to exploit or take opportunity from rising oil prices at the bowser on consumers, well they can expect the ACCC to respond to them, I think very quickly.

JOURNALIST: The Ukraine Council for New South Wales has said Australia should provide lethal military assistance to Kiev. At what point would something like that be considered?

PRIME MINISTER: That's not under contemplation by Australia. Never has been, never been requested. The support that we provide in relation to that type of assistance is done a long way away from Ukraine. It doesn't involve the deployment of those types of forces and never would be in that context. Thank you very much, everyone.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43819

Jisoo Kim 23/2/22 Jisoo Kim 23/2/22

Press Conference - Sydney, NSW

23 February 2022

Prime Minister: The invasion of Ukraine has effectively already begun, as President Biden has also remarked. This invasion is unjustified, it's unwarranted, it's unprovoked and it's unacceptable. Russia is at peak readiness to now complete a full scale invasion of Ukraine, and that is likely to occur within the next 24 hours. And there are even reports already of shelling and things of that nature, which could indicate that it has already begun.

My first thoughts are for all of the people of Ukraine, and for those many 38,000 Australians of Ukrainian descent who are here. I spoke to Stefan Romaniw, who heads up the Ukrainian community here in Australia earlier today, and they’re, of course, very concerned for their families, for their friends and for their homeland, from where they have come from. And I'll have a bit more to say about how we'll be seeking to provide support to them.

Australians always stand up to bullies and we will be standing up to Russia, along with all of our partners, like-mindeds and all of those who believe that it is absolutely unacceptable that Russia could invade its neighbour and seek to extract some concessions or advantage out of threats of terrible violence upon its neighbour. We will be doing this in concert, as I said with our many allies and partners, but the Australian Government will immediately begin placing sanctions on Russian individuals in response to the aggression by Russia against Ukraine. We will also amend the Autonomous Sanctions Regulation of 2011 to extend existing sanctions that apply to Crimea and Sevastopol to the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. These two actions will align us with our key partners, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Our intention today and the decisions taken by the National Security Committee are to ensure that we are in lockstep with the United States and the United Kingdom in the sanctions that they are imposing upon Russia and these other areas. Initially, we will oppose impose travel bans and targeted financial sanctions on eight members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Tomorrow morning, I will meet with the Governor-General here in Sydney, and I've spoken to him earlier today, as a Special Executive Council meeting to enable my Government to impose those additional sanctions against Russia.

These sanctions will significantly expand the scope of persons and, I stress, entities, that Australia can list for targeted financial sanctions and travel bans. It's including to capture persons and entities of what is termed strategic and economic significance to Russia. And so that gives us a broad coverage to ensure that we can target those who are particularly involved in these actions and who are aiding and abetting this invasion. The sanctions will impose strong economic sanctions in the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, targeting the following sectors: transport, energy, telecommunications, oil, gas, and mineral reserves.

We will be also moving, as the United States and the UK has, to sanction the Russian State Development Bank, VEB, the military bank Promsvyazbank, Rossiya, IS Bank, the General Bank and the Black Sea Bank. The Treasurer has spoken today to all of the CEOs of the major banks and to put them on alert to be aware of any suspicious transactions or things of that nature. And, of course, AUSTRAC will be doing their job in response to what could possibly occur. In response to Russia's recognition of Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine as independent states, that is why these actions are being undertaken to extend into those areas.

In the first tranche, I've asked the Foreign Foreign Minister to consider sanctions against persons and entities that have been identified by our like-minded partners, and I expect subsequent tranches of sanctions. This is only the start of this process. We are working with our partners to identify additional individuals who will be subject to these sanctions, that have been made possible by our Autonomous Sanctions Legislation that we recently took through the Parliament.

The Security Council of Russia provided policy advice and justification to President Putin, which led to his presidential decree of 21 February, recognising the so-called Donetsk Republic People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic. Moscow's decision fundamentally undermines Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and it has no validity under international law. Our Government continues to coordinate closely with the United States, UK and European Union and other governments to ensure there are severe costs to Russia's aggression, and we won't hesitate to take further actions under those regulations that I have set out.

Now, in addition to that, Australia has been stepping up our preparedness in order to take these actions. There is a consultation process that goes around these sanctions under the legislation, so we can fully understand supply chain impacts, and that is very important, as was the discussions with the banks by the Treasurer earlier today. But we have been stepping up our response, particularly in relation to counter espionage, which we were briefed on today. AUSTRAC, I have already mentioned, to who will work together closely with APRA to ensure that we're keeping a close watch on a suspicious financial transactions.

In addition to that, we have already been taking action on cyber defences and that has been done privately already with many companies, alerting them to the risk of potential counter responses by Russia and other actors in response to these decisions. There is no evidence that any such attacks have taken place to date, I'm advised. But we are now publicly saying right across the country to go to the ASD website so you can be clearly informed of the steps that you should be taking to ensure that you are protected as best as you can be from any cyber-attacks.

In terms of consular support, we will continue to provide that. There are, we believe, up to around 1,400 Australians who are in Ukraine. There is 184 who have registered and we're dealing with directly, and we have been warning them for some time now to make their way out of Ukraine. And we are doing that out of a base in Poland and continuing to provide support to people inside Ukraine.

We have, I've also instructed today the Minister for Immigration to accelerate the conclusion of Ukrainian visa applications to Australia. They will go to the top of the pile and I've asked for those to be concluded urgently. There are some 430, roughly, applications from Ukrainian citizens to come to Australia. They’re across a range of different visa classes - student visas, family visas and others. And so I've asked for those to be concluded, so there’s the opportunity for people who've been in that process to come to Australia. There are some 1,027 Ukrainians outside of Australia who have visas to enter Australia, and, of course, they would be welcomed.

We will work very closely, especially with Poland, but other European partners to deal with the likelihood of displaced persons coming into their countries. This is where we think we can provide some quite effective assistance. I'll be speaking next week to the Polish Prime Minister. I'll be speaking tonight to the Ukrainian Prime Minister and discussing these matters. We will be in a position there, as we have on many other occasions for displaced persons, in providing direct assistance in terms of where they will be, humanitarian support for where they will be. It is not always the case, and, in fact, it is less often the case that people who are in these situations will seek safe harbour for a period of time before returning to their country of origin. At this stage, it is too uncertain to predict how long that could be or what circumstances will be, but we’ll be working and providing support to the Polish Government and others who are providing direct assistance to displaced persons, where they are being accommodated in those countries.

We will also be looking at the options for humanitarian support in terms of visa access to Australia, and I'd stress with Ukrainian citizens, this wouldn't just be through our humanitarian program. It would be through the many streams of our migration program - skilled migration, student visas, other visas, family reunion visas, things of that nature. So I would expect that we'd be able to provide that support through those many channels, but we're still in the very early stages of that.

Right now, our greatest concern is the invasion itself and our concerns for the safety and welfare of people who are in the firing line there in Ukraine, and they're in the firing line of Russian guns and Russian tanks and Russian planes and Russian missiles. That's what's being aimed at the people of Ukraine. It is unacceptable and it won't be stood for by the international community. And all nations who want to stand up to bullies should do so now, as so many have done. And, Australia, as always, is pleased to be doing that. Happy to take some questions.

Journalist: Do any of these sanctions apply to individuals within Australia where they’re financial backers of President Putin, and do you believe the greatest pressure you can put on the Russian leader is to squeeze those that have [inaudible] reach under him?

Prime Minister: Yes, in short, in the latter question. On the other matter, we will be dealing with those issues sensitively, as you, as you'd expect. I'm not about to give too much away on that front. We'll be working through that process patiently and make further announcements about individuals as appropriate. But, at this stage, I'm not about to suggest that we'd be making those details public. But if we believe that's in Australia's national interest to do so, then we would.

Journalist: Prime Minister, apart from the potential for cyber-attacks, is there any other forms of retaliation that Australia could face?

Prime Minister: Well, I think cyber’s, I think, one of the most obvious, and I'd stress that that the cyber-attacks can sometimes come from miscalculation and misadventure. We've seen that in the past where cyber-attacks have sought to let loose various worms, they call them, or viruses, and and they get out of the control of those who who put them in the system. And so it can be indiscriminate collateral impacts, as well as targeted impacts. And so that is, that is the primary issue. But I've already mentioned that we’ll, ASIO will be keeping a very close watch on any sort of espionage type activities that could be occurring. And but but outside of that, in terms of economic retaliation, I mean, Australia doesn't have a a large volume of trade between ourselves and Russia. And little compared to particularly the countries of Europe and the United States. But, that said, it's important that we play our part of in the broader international community to ensure that those who are financing, profiting from an autocratic and authoritarian regime that is invading its neighbour should have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide when it comes to trying to move their money around and avoid the consequences of supporting this type of behaviour.

Sure.

Journalist: Other powers like China, what message will they take away from the way the West is responding?

Prime Minister: Well, I hope they join us. That's the message that that I'm sending and have been sending for some time. And I have noted that China's language in in the course of the past week has improved. But I'd I’d welcome them going the full distance and joining ourselves and the United States and the UK and the EU and Canada and so many other countries that are denouncing what is occurring there. And we can’t have some suggestion that Russia has some just case here that they're prosecuting. They're behaving like thugs and bullies, and they should be called out as thugs and bullies. And quite sadly and tragically, the sheer force of that violence of a thug and a bully is about to be impacted upon the people of Ukraine. Now, it's at the last stage before a full invasion, and and let's hope and pray that that does not happen. But all the signs are that once they have built to a peak of military preparedness to invade, then it is only a matter of time before they have to walk away or follow through. And, sadly, all the signs are that they would follow through.

I'm going to, I’ll go around.

Journalist: What do you expect the economic consequences to be? One former diplomat to Russia said the sanctions from 2014 have only impacted their economy about 0.2 per cent of GDP each year. And will these sanctions, or sanctions you're considering, target Putin's resources personally?

Prime Minister: We will, we’re going to take it step by step, and I can assure you we those steps will get stronger and stronger and stronger. What is made possible by our Autonomous Sanctions Act is that we can target the individuals themselves and the entities as well. So the impact is is not just at a broad macroeconomic level on on Russia. And let me be also be very clear about something. We have no quarrel with the people of Russia. None whatsoever. And I feel for the Russian people and there are many Australians of Russian extraction here who I know will be very disappointed by what President Putin is doing, and and they will feel strongly about that because that's not what they believe their country is about. That's not what their values are about. They, that's not what their heritage is about. And I know they'll be very disappointed about this. This is the actions of a Russian Government, an autocratic, authoritarian government that's forgotten what democracy is and what liberal democracy is in undertaking these actions of bullying and threats and intimidation. That's not what I believe the Russian people stand for, and certainly those Australians who are of Russian extraction here.

So what this enables us to do, I think, is be far more targeted on the perpetrators and the beneficiaries of this violence. That's what the Autonomous Sanctions Act is all about. And so I believe it enables us to be more effective, and doing that in concert with the United States and Canada and and the United Kingdom and and many other countries, European Union. We will be adding names to the list, I can tell you. And we’ll be, we’ll be ratcheting it up further to potentially other areas of economic activity.

Yeah, sorry.

Journalist: Would that be Putin?

Prime Minister: I said we will continue to ratchet this up over time. So I'm not getting drawn on any individual decisions at this time. I think you'd understand that we would be proceeding in a sensitive way in terms of protecting the security of our actions.

Journalist: Are you ordering the Russian Ambassador to leave and is there any reason why representatives of the Putin regime should stay in Australia at the moment?

Prime Minister: We haven't taken that step. The the Russian Ambassador, I understand, will be coming in to see the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Defence and Trade today, Foreign Affairs and Trade. Equally, I should have noted the Opposition is being briefed by the key officials from who support the National Security Committee to their senior ministers this afternoon. But that step hasn't been taken as yet. Other countries, and I've discussed this with other leaders, they haven't taken those decisions as yet. But we will see where this proceeds.

Journalist: Prime Minister, you’ve said that we're taking this step by step. What what's the worst case scenario? Where where is this, where is this heading for Australia’s response?

Prime Minister: Well, they'll be rolling and they'll be iterative - the sanctions that are imposed - not just by Australia, but all countries around the world. And and they will just keep stepping up. I mean, there must be consequences for Russia's actions and those who who perpetrate them, support those who perpetrate them, those who benefit from all of this must be targeted, isolated and there must be consequences for this type of behaviour, because that should send a very strong message to any other bullies and thugs out there that this type of behaviour is not acceptable.

Journalist: Is the Australian Army being briefed?

Prime Minister: Well, they’ve been involved in everything that we're doing. They the Chief of Defence Force sits on the National Security Committee of Cabinet as an adviser. So we've been working closely with our Defence Forces, and where we're able to assist in the broader efforts using those assets and personnel, we do. But obviously that doesn't involve people being deployed in in the region.

Journalist: Prime Minister, just in terms of the sanctions against individuals, you mentioned that eight members of Russia's Security Council will be targeted. But there are 12 members. Could you tell us if this includes the Deputy Chair Medvedev, Sergei Lavrov or the individual that runs the Russian spy agency, the FSB?

Prime Minister: We will be taking action against those in the Committee that have also been identified by our partners. So we're still working through those processes now. We're working in concert with the United States and the United Kingdom.

Journalist: Prime Minister, French President Emmanuel Macron has been in dialogue with Vladimir Putin to try and put Vladimir Putin on a, off a full scale invasion. Have you had a chance to speak with the French President and do you support his intervention?

Prime Minister: Well, no, I haven't, but I do support any attempts to try and avoid this, but not without qualification. I mean, there cannot be any suggestion that concessions should be provided to a bully and a, and a thug in return for not following through with threats of violence. That's not the sort of appeasement I would ever support, and I don't think Australians would either in this or any other situation. But, certainly, I I appreciate the considerable pressure that President Macron and so many other leaders, Olaf Scholz as well. I welcome the decision he's made on Nord Stream. I think that's a very strong message, and I'm speaking with him next week about these and many other issues. And so I think many leaders have been seeking to do their best. But at the same time, it's important that we hold the line that you cannot have Russia tell Ukraine about whether they can be in NATO or not, or or issues that also impact on their sovereignty as a nation. They can't be a nation in name only. You, they must have sovereign carriage of their own futures and their own decisions, and that can't be the subject of bullying or threats or intimidation.

Journalist: Will the West be able to hold firm against Russia’s movements? Will the West be able to hold firm against Vladimir Putin?

Prime Minister: I believe so, but I can assure you Australia will, and I can assure you that those partners we work most closely with will. The question is, how many more will join us? And I think that's really important. I mean, I applaud the work of the EU, as I said, the German Chancellor, I applaud his decision today, over the last 24 hours, in relation to Nord Stream. I think that showed some real resolve. You know, when you face bullying and intimidation, yes, there's blowback. Yes, there's threats to your economic interests and you attract a lot of attention by those who seek to to bully and threaten you. Australia understands this better than most. It's a point I've been seeking to make now for some years to fellow liberal democracies. We are now living in a world where authoritarian autocracies are seeking to have their way. And the only defence against that is those countries that favour a world order that favours freedom, and liberal democracies have to stand together. And so many other countries, even if they're not liberal democracies, who do believe in those principles of the sovereignty of states, we need to stand together, and Australia will. We’ll always do that. And, but right now, my gravest fears and concerns are for the people of Ukraine and the many thousands, 38,000, Australians of Ukrainian descent who will be terribly worried about loved ones, families, friends, because what we've seen amassed on their border is is horrible, the worst kind of violence. Thanks very much.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43815

Jisoo Kim 22/2/22 Jisoo Kim 22/2/22

Press Conference - Triabunna, TAS

22 February 2022

Ms Susie Bower, Liberal Candidate for Lyons: What a fantastic day to be here in Lyons. We've just had a tour by Sylvia and Graeme Elphinstone of their plant here in Triabunna, which is actually providing the sleds for Antarctica, which is a fantastic announcement that we will have in a minute from the Prime Minister and Sussan Ley. Obviously, we have our Liberal colleagues here, in our Senators, in Senator Duniam, Abetz and Claire Chandler. And we also have the Minister for Environment Sussan Ley here today. But I'm not sure about you, but I can't remember the last time a Prime Minister came to Triabunna, and I am so proud that we are able to bring him into Lyons and show him what is able to be completed here in a very small town. That means a lot to these guys up the back there. We're having local jobs for local people. So without further ado, I’ll introduce the Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison.

Prime Minister: Thank you, thank you. Well, thank you, Susie. Great to be with you again today, this time in another part of Lyons. And here in Triabunna, it's wonderful to be here. And it's particularly exciting to be here with Sussan Ley, the Environment Minister and our Senate colleagues, because today we are making an important announcement about Australia's commitment to looking after Antarctica. This is a very important responsibility that Australia has. We are stewards of some of the most important and most sensitive environments anywhere in the world, whether it is up in Far North Queensland on the Great Barrier Reef, where Sussan and I were very recently, or standing here in Tasmania announcing today $800 million of additional investment as part of our science research and capability support program for what we're doing to implement our Antarctica strategy.

Both of these big initiatives are all about Australia's outstanding reputation of being one of the most advanced scientific managers of these sensitive environments anywhere in the world. But our ability to do this is based on why I am here in Triabunna, because we're here with Graeme Elphinstone today. I was with his brother Dale yesterday up in Burnie, and what they've been able to do here, working in Tasmanian industry, putting together bespoke industrial capability to deal with the challenges, whether it's the logging industry, or the mining industry in Dale's case. And they can take that ingenuity and they can apply it to the extremely difficult challenges of what it's like to have to work in Antarctica. The fact that we have sovereign capability in our manufacturing industries and that we have it in regional locations like we are here in Triabunna. You know, where this is not a big city, this is one of, one of the beautiful towns and regions of our country, and we've got people with some of the best skills in the world putting together some of the most innovative equipment that has to operate in the most extreme of environments. That's what sovereign capability looks like in manufacturing.

Sovereign capability in manufacturing is one of our five key points of the economic plan, which is driving our economy forward. And that plan is, firstly, to get taxes down, as we've been delivering, and cutting red tape. Secondly, to ensure that we are investing in the skills and infrastructure that Australia needs to ensure our economy can grow, and those skills have been on display here. Apprentices coming through with world-leading skills and talents right here in Triabunna. Thirdly, to ensure that we have affordable, reliable energy, so our manufacturing industries in particular can continue to do what they're doing and we can keep electricity prices down. They've been down eight per cent over the last two years, down five per cent over the last 12 months. All this has to come together, with Australia being, fourthly, a leading data and digital economy, a top 10 data and digital economy by the year 2030, which enables all of those skills and opportunities. All of that then builds into our sovereign manufacturing capability.

You know, security’s about many issues. It's about, of course, our strategic security interests and our intelligence and our defence capabilities. No doubt about that. But it's also about our economic security. The reason that we can run a strong economy, the reason that our Government has strong financial management that has enabled us to maintain our AAA credit rating - one of only nine countries to do so anywhere in the world and to have done that through a pandemic when we've had to deliver more economic support to our economy than at any other time in our history - when you get your financial management right and you've got the right economic plan, what happens is people get into jobs. Towns like this are able to go forward and take on some of the most complicated and demanding contracts imaginable, as we're seeing here in this Antarctic program.

And so our plan is working. How do I know that? Because Australians are working. How do I know that? Because Tasmanians are working. Tasmania now has an unemployment rate with a three in front of it. And before long, the rest of the country as a whole will have an unemployment rate with a three in front of it. Now that is generational achievement by Australians in our economy. That's what strong economic management does. Over the last few years, we've been rightly very focused on the impact of the pandemic. But we haven't just been managing the pandemic, where we have one of the strongest economies, where we have one of the lowest fatality rates, death rates from COVID in the world, and the highest vaccination rates. It's also been about building up our manufacturing capabilities and our economy so we can launch back strongly, as we are now, right across the country, and as we are here, right in Triabunna. So it is very exciting.

This program is going to create 685 direct jobs, 685 jobs. That's directly in the $800 million that we're putting in place, and that's an increase of 100 of what we're already doing right now. Now that doesn't include the jobs here at Elphinstone or in the supply chain or in the many other elements that go into supporting this program. So the jobs that are being created by Australia being one of the world's leading Antarctic managers or an Arctic type experience as well. I mean, we're one of the best in the world with this, and we're working with our partners and we’re respected for doing that. And that is creating the sort of jobs and capability. If you can build sleds to go across Antarctica, you can pretty much build anything. And that's what Australia is doing - building things, making things, and it's all happening right here.

So I'm going to ask Sussan to take you through more of the scientific elements of what this program involves and the partnerships that we have in place. We take our Antarctic Treaty obligations incredibly seriously. So the ability to have the drones up in the air and to have the undersea surveillance and mapping capabilities, the ability to have a new krill museum, sorry a new krill aquarium here in Tasmania, all of this is building our scientific knowledge and capability, and Sussan can take you to that. Thank you, Sussan, and well done on pulling this all together.

The Hon. Sussan Ley MP, Minister for the Environment: Many thanks indeed, Prime Minister. It's lovely to be here. Susie, thank you for your advocacy for the people of Triabunna, and probably about two thirds of Tasmania, wonderful. Senator Claire Chandler, to you and the rest of your Senate team. It's great to be here.

Prime Minister, yes, indeed. This $804 million announcement protects the integrity of Australia's leadership in Antarctica and sends a clear international signal about the strength of the role we play within the Antarctic Treaty System, because Australia has always been there. In 1959, Sir Robert Menzies was a founding member for Australia of the Antarctic Treaty System, and that was a time when in the Cold War the continent could have been carved up. Thirty years ago, the Madrid Protocol, Australia once again stepped up and said no mining in the world's last wilderness. And our approach through the Antarctic Treaty system has been with the protection of this fragile environment front and centre, with science, with research, with deepening our understanding, but always within that Treaty system being recognised for the leadership globally. And what we do is internationally renowned and second to none.

So as Kim Ellis from the Antarctic Division has explained to us today and thank you, Kim, and to all of your team, your scientists, your researchers, your extraordinarily dedicated expeditioners, we can step up once again to a different level of investment in this critical time. And that includes we all met recently with the launch of Nuyina, our polar research vessel platform, state of the art with mobile aquariums on board. It will be able to traverse down the 42 per cent heart of the Antarctic continent that we are stewards over. From Nuyina, we’ll be able to launch medium range helicopters that can now go 550 kilometres, three times further than the squirrels that we use now, and we’ll have underwater drones we’ll have unmanned aerial vehicles, we’ll have a fleet of drones. We'll have eyes on Antarctica. We'll have mapping, we'll have sensors, we'll have cameras and we will look literally at uncharted waters, and it's incredibly exciting.

Graeme Elphinstone, the thing that is so remarkable about you is that you went to Antarctica. You didn't just drop into Casey Station. You actually did a traverse over several weeks and you said, well, if we're going to build the right sleds, the state of the art equipment, I want to know exactly what it needs to do in these extraordinarily harsh conditions. And so what you do here is remarkable. And so just a huge recognition to your workforce, because while sometimes announcements sound very big and if they land in global circumstances, I love this because it's landing right here. It's landing in the workshops, in the engineering shops, in the catering, in the providores, in the medical research, in the universities, in the trades and the training all over Tasmania. And it's fantastic for every single Tasmanian. But I also know today that Australians are proud. They're proud of our role in Antarctica. They're proud of what we've achieved and they're proud of what we can do next. So thank you.

Prime Minister: Thank you, Sussan. Well happy to take some questions.

Journalist: Prime Minister, can we just, onto other issues …

Prime Minister: How about we just stay on Antarctica? Happy to go to other issues, but questions on Antarctica first and the announcement - it’s $800 million in some of the world's leading polar research and science. Very exciting news for Tasmania and the research community and all those who are working here. So happy to take some questions on the program first and then we can move to other issues.

Journalist: How many new jobs will this create and how many specifically in Tasmania?

Prime Minister: Well, we'll see an extra 100 jobs that are specific to the program itself, and that is largely driven out of Tasmania. I mean, this is where we base ourselves in Australia. And overall, there’s 685 jobs that this is supporting. But, as I said, that doesn't include the jobs that are in places like Elphinstone’s here. It doesn't include all the supply chain jobs that sit around that. And so, you know, it doesn't include the new apprentices who will come on board to make this incredible equipment and the skills that they will develop. See we're not just, you know, building sleds, we're building workforce capability here, we're building sovereign manufacturing capability here. So there's the jobs and the capability, and what does that do? Drives your economy, gets unemployment down, gets wages moving, ensures that, you know, you've got money flowing through small communities like this. So the knock on effects of this, I think, are very, very positive. This is what a strong economic plan looks like for a strong economy, which means a stronger future for Australia and Tasmania.

Journalist: Is the Australian Government concerned about other nations, particularly China, trying to assert their dominance over the Antarctic region, and has that, you know, caused, I suppose, part of this, this plan, the surveillance as part of this plan to be included?

Prime Minister: Well, we are a treaty nation when it comes to Antarctica, and we take those responsibilities incredibly seriously. Now, not everybody respects those obligations and those stewardship responsibilities. So this gives us eyes on Antarctica. We have an important job to do, not just about understanding Antarctica and what the implications of that are for everything from climate science through to many other applications. But it is also about ensuring that we protect Antarctica and that we have good knowledge about what's going on there, and we're able to push through now, particularly with the airlift capability, the drone capability and the undersea capability, we're able to do things now in this next phase. I mean, we had, you know, our total investment now is $3 billion in looking after Antarctica. So we go from $2.2 billion to $3 billion as part of this program. And this extends out over the decade. And this is in the Budget and it's there and able now to be implemented by our world-leading scientists. So we need to keep eyes in Antarctica because there are others who have different objectives to us, and we need to make sure, not just for Australia's interests but for the world's interests, that we protect this incredible environment that we have responsibility for.

Journalist: And does this new, does this new plan include plans for a year-round paved runway, as the Australian Strategic Policy Institute report suggested was needed?

Prime Minister: I’ll let Sussan speak to that.

The Hon. Sussan Ley MP, Minister for the Environment: Well, we recently announced that we wouldn't continue with the 2.7 kilometre paved runway in the world's last wilderness, but what we would do is step up and boost our investment and our dedication to preserving the leadership role of Australia through the Antarctic Treaty System. And this $800 million investment is all about that.

Journalist: The report suggested, though, that paved runway was needed to assert greater influence in the region. So why the decision not to proceed?

The Hon. Sussan Ley MP, Minister for the Environment: Well, the runway didn’t stack up environmentally, but it also doesn't stack up strategically. What does stack up strategically is the investment that we're making, which allows us to extend our reach into the 42 per cent of Antarctica that we’re stewards over, allows us to develop capabilities that we haven't had before. And most importantly, asserts our role through the Antarctic Treaty Decision, because decisions in Antarctica are made through consensus and collaboration.

Prime Minister: So this is about getting the balance right, as it is with everything, and in such a sensitive environment it's about delivering the strategic effect through the capability that we've been able to bring together in this package. The goal’s the same, the objective’s the same, but we've been able to do that in a way which respects all of the issues that Sussan has just mentioned, while at the same time making sure we've got eyes on Antarctica.

Journalist: Can you outline exactly what your concerns are around Chinese activity in Antarctica?

Prime Minister: Well, they don't share the same objectives as Australia, as a, as a treaty nation, when it comes to protecting Antarctica. And so it's very important that we are very clear in our understanding about what activities are being undertaken there, and that there is an accountability and transparency around that. Australia has always been very happy to call out these things, and where we have to, we will, and we have given ourselves the capability to put ourselves in a situation where we can do that - not just on behalf of Australia, but Australia works in partnership with so many other nations who share our objectives. France, for example, we're working very closely with France when it comes to our stewardship responsibilities in Antarctica. We work with the Kiwis, we work with a range of countries, the Italians, in particular, who are very committed. The Spanish, both Sussan and I were part of the recent Conference on the Treaty very recently. So the world is working together to protect Antarctica, but there’ll be others who will have different objectives there and would seek to exploit its resources in a way that would not be consistent with those objectives. And, so, we're ensuring that in our stewarding of this incredible environment that we've got eyes on, and so there's a transparency about what's taking place down there.

Journalist: What's your understanding of what China [inaudible]?

Prime Minister: Well, I think I've sort of covered those issues off already, I think. They don't share the same objectives that Australia does.

Journalist: Are we talking fishing, mining, what's, where are the main concerns there?

Prime Minister: Well, I think you've outlined quite a few there.

Journalist: Do you see them as the biggest threat to Australia's operations in Antarctica, or are there other challenges we face?

Prime Minister: Well, this is a, what we have to protect against is threats to Antarctica. That's what this is about, and we protect against those threats through our scientific research, through the building of our understanding, through the mapping capabilities that are being put in place, by ensuring that we can go to places where you’ve never been able to go before. I mean, Mawson would be very thrilled about this, I think, to see Australians going out and doing this in this way. I think it's very much in keeping with that tradition, and where others who have different objectives to us, well, it's an opportunity for us to be there and make sure that we're protecting Antarctica from more exploitative interests.

Journalist: How quickly do you get those eyes down there? How fast can this technology be developed and move down there?

The Hon. Sussan Ley MP, Minister for the Environment: Look, there's money in the Budget averaging $70, $80, $90 million every year up until 2030, at least. So, as you can see, the Antarctic Division is positioned to leverage this announcement and absolutely make it happen in the real world of Antarctica.

Prime Minister: And we’re already doing it. As I said, we've already got $2.2 billion invested. This is $800 million on top of this. So we're, you know, we've been doing this for a long time and we have an outstanding record and reputation on our activities in Antarctica over a very long time. So this is adding to that and further extending our capability.

Journalist: China has accused Australia of slinging mud over the laser pointing incident. What's your response to that?

Prime Minister: I reject that absolutely. I mean, the facts are very clear. There was a Chinese naval vessel in our exclusive economic zone, and it pointed a laser pointer at an Australian surveillance aircraft. That's what happened. They need to explain that, not just to Australia, but this needs to be explained to the entire region as to what they would be doing undertaking such a reckless act, for what's supposed to be a professional Navy. There's no explanation that Australia has to give here. Our surveillance planes have every right to be in our exclusive economic zone and keeping a close eye on what people are up to in our exclusive economic zone. And that's what their job is. And the fact that they were put under that type of a threat I think is extremely disappointing, and I think requires an explanation. Not for it to be dismissed or shunted off or some of the usual responses that we get. Now, do I have an expectation that an explanation will be given? Frankly, not a strong one, based on the form. But what I do know is that's what occurred and I'll call it out.

Journalist: They've said that they were forced to take defensive measures because Australia was flying too close to their vessel. Do you know how far our aircraft actually was flying to the vessel, and was there any directive from the Australian Government to target that?

Prime Minister: Our surveillance aircraft was exactly where it was allowed to be, doing everything they are allowed to do, and keeping eyes on those who were coming into our exclusive economic zone. They were doing their job, as they do every single day, and we make no apology for where our surveillance aircraft are, looking after and protecting Australia.

Journalist: Prime Minister, can you guarantee that under your energy plan that the price of energy won't continue, sorry, will continue to fall?

Prime Minister: Well, what I can tell you is what our energy policies have delivered, and our energy policies have delivered electricity price falls of eight per cent over the last two years, and five per cent over the last 12 months. I can tell you that our emissions reduction policies have seen emissions fall by over 20 per cent. I can tell you that under the previous Labor Government, electricity prices increased by over 100 per cent. And I think there's a very clear contrast between those. What we understand is you've got to get the balance right as you transition your energy economy into the future, as we move towards our targets out to 2050, but we do that in a way that it can be absorbed by the Australian economy and ensures that we can keep stability in our electricity grid, that we can keep gas prices down, that we can ensure that manufacturers get access to energy prices, both whether they be electricity or in gas feedstock, which enables them to be world's best and very competitive. So that is our record. That's what our policies do, because we understand the need for reliable and affordable energy, not just reducing emissions. We're seeking to achieve both goals. And that's why the baseload power generation, which is so important to our grid and keeping electricity prices down, that's why our gas mechanism is so important, because that's helped us keep gas prices down and electricity prices down when they're under extreme pressure.

Now, what we're seeing in other areas like petrol prices and things like that, that's obviously being driven by broader global issues. These are not things that Australia or anyone else has direct control over, and we only need to see what's happening with gas prices in Europe in particular, when we see the the troubles in Ukraine, a country that is already seeing Russian troops enter their own sovereign territory, that has already occurred now. There's some suggestion that they’re peacekeeping, is nonsense. They have moved in on Ukrainian sovereign territory. And while I hope for the best in terms of the diplomatic efforts that are being pursued, particularly by the United States and France and other nations in Europe that are trying to avoid what would be an absolutely violent confrontation with terrible human consequences, at the same time, we cannot have threats of violence being used to seek to advantage nation’s positions over others. That is not a peaceful world order that would be achieving that. And so it's important that like-minded countries who denounce this sort of behaviour do stick together. And I can assure you, the moment that that other countries put in place strong and severe sanctions on Russia, we will be in lockstep with them and we'll be moving just as quickly. And that's what, they’re discussions that we've been engaged with now for some time with our partners.

Journalist: Do you agree with Tony Abbott's comments that Russia would try to take over Poland and the Baltic states if it invades Ukraine?

Prime Minister: Well, I'm aware, I'm aware of Tony’s comments. But right now we're pretty much focused on the immediate issues in Ukraine and to ensure that Russia steps back. Russia should step back. It should unconditionally withdraw back behind its own borders and stop threatening its neighbours. We've seen this behaviour before and seeking to take opportunity to threaten a neighbour for their own advantage is just simply not on. It's unacceptable. It's unprovoked. It's unwarranted. And Russia should understand that by seeking to invade another country that this cannot advantage them and would, it would seriously and significantly cost Russia and their international reputation and anyone else who supports them and stands with them and refuses to denounce it. Ok everyone, thanks very much.

Journalist: Sorry, I’ve just got one more question. Senator Claire Chandler’s been praised by your Liberal colleagues for her advocacy around women's sport.

Prime Minister: Yes.

Journalist: Where do you stand on the Save Women’s, Save Women's Sports Bill?

Prime Minister: I support her, as Claire knows. I think it's a terrific Bill and I've given her great encouragement. I mean, Claire is a, is a champion for women's sport, and I think she's been right to raise these issues in the way that she has. Well done Claire.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43814

Jisoo Kim 21/2/22 Jisoo Kim 21/2/22

Press Conference - Wivenhoe, TAS

21 February 2022

MR GAVIN PEARCE, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BRADDON: Well, good afternoon and welcome to the North West. I'm joined today by the Prime Minister behind me, of course. Prime Minister, welcome to the North West. Welcome to Tassie again. And we're being hosted here today at this magnificent facility, this manufacturing epicentre of the North West, Elphinstone Underground. Dale, the owner, and Kelly, his daughter, have been kindly welcoming to us all here today and we've seen the first class product that they produce here in Elphinstone.

We’re here today, of course, around an announcement of the Defence 8116 project, which is a self-propelled artillery piece, 155 mm howitzer, which projects a rocket assisted propulsion projectile up to 50 kilometres. The thing will do 67 kilometres an hour. It weighs up to a combat weight of 47 tonnes. And, as a soldier, and many of you will realise that, that I spent 20 years of my life in the military, I understand completely how important it is to put the very best, most reliable and well-built pieces of equipment in the hands of our men and women of our Defence Force. When your life is on the line and you're protecting those around you, you want the very best and you want to have faith in that. And I today have got no more faith than the faith that I've got in the Elphinstone group. I know that you can do this and I know that you can set the example for many others to follow.

Talking about following when it comes to defence, that it brings me to the introduction of the Prime Minister. And there's no person that I'd want to follow in relation to defence and the the serious nature and the back backing that he's put into not only defence funding but also support for defence has been second to none, and it gives me great pride to introduce the Prime Minister to you all today.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Gav. Well, thanks also to Dale and Kelly for being here with you today. It was actually some years ago when I was here in Burnie, meeting with Dale at the time, and it was about the time when they were doing the transformation of this very, this very plant, this very shop here from Caterpillar into what is now Elphinstone Underground.

Dale and his family have been mainstays of this community in the North West. This community wouldn’t look like this if it were not for the investment that Dale’s family and what they've been able to create here over many, many, many years and through some pretty hard times. I remember, Dale, when we had that conversation about five years ago, the town was going through a pretty, pretty rough time, and you guys, you dug in and and you doubled down and committed, and here we are today to be able to talk about a really important contract, which is not only going to add further capability to Elphinstone and bring 55 jobs here, it's going to significantly lift the capability of our Defence Forces.

Now the project we're talking about, and Gavin well-articulated its technical merits, let me tell you a couple of other things about this contract for the howitzers. This was one of the programs that Labor cut. So when they were cutting defence spending, this was one of the programs they cut. And this is one of the programs, particularly as Prime Minister, I restored. The program that now sees these important parts of that capability being built right here in the North West. Now this was a program that we were able to land the final procurement contract when the Korean President was out here recently, some of you may recall when the Korean President was here, and sometimes people say, what was all that about and what does that mean for me? Well, if you're living in Wynyard and you're one of the 55 who've got a job as a result of this contract, then you know exactly what that program is all about.

So at this Wynyard base manufacturing facility, I should say, I should say, at the Wynyard base manufacturing facility here, we've got 55 new jobs, 45 turrets and hulls for the Australian Army's new Huntsman, what's called the Huntsman capability, and there'll be parts of the project which are done here, a small part of the project here. And the majority of it will be done down at Wynyard. So incredibly exciting times, I think, for the North West.

Our defence industry procurement strategy is all about building our defence industry capability. You want a strong Defence Force, then you've got to have sovereign manufacturing capability in your Defence Forces. And we've lifted that from a a low level when we first came to Government, about 1.5 to 1.6 per cent of GDP. That was the lowest level, you have to go back to 1938. That's what Labor left us. They were cancelling defence contracts, they were cutting defence spending. We've turned that around. We're over two per cent now and we're getting on with these important projects.

But, Dale, tell us a bit more about what it means for your company and what it particularly means here for the North West.

MR DALE ELPHINSTONE, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, ELPHINSTONE PTY LTD: I think I think the first thing I'd like to say is acknowledge the Federal Government's confidence in manufacturing in Australia because, I guess, we've gradually seen our car industries, the manufacturing capabilities that we have be whittled away, and we see this as a vote of confidence from the Government in what we've been able to do. We've been here for 45 years building underground mining machines in this facility. We compete on a global stage every day of the week. We do that without subsidy. And this, I think the Prime Minister made a very good point. [Phone rings]

PRIME MINISTER: There’s another order, Dale.

MR DALE ELPHINSTONE, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, ELPHINSTONE PTY LTD: It is. Sorry. That's alright. The the Prime Minister made a very good point that we’re here because of the mining industry and we are now capable of building because of what we've built here, capable of building our military products, which is a, is a distinct benefit that we gain from from, I guess, the mining industry, aside from all the other things it does in the country. But we've been at this for, I think Kelly said to me last night - Kelly's particularly led the charge on this - and we've been at this for seven years and you probably know we bid the LAND 400 Phase 2. We weren't successful, but we don't give up. So we've stayed with this and we're very thankful now with Hanwha to be joining them for this product. And this will give us entree, we hope, into other bigger and better things that, as we demonstrate our capability to manufacture in Australia, because that's what's really important to us. And we need to do, and if I've got to give the Government any encouragement, is to do more things in this country for ourselves so that we are more self-sufficient on any and everything that we do, because we've got the capabilities in this country to get that done. I don't know whether you want to add something, Kel.

MS KELLY ELPHINSTONE, DIRECTOR, ELPHINSTONE PTY LTD: Oh no, other than absolutely I think for the, for the state and the community, for the Federal Government to really put, get behind the Australian or the AIC or Australian Industry Content for defence, is why we're all standing here today, because they've honoured that commitment. And for Hanwha to also respect that the capability exists here. We're not the only Tasmanian business to be part of this defence contract, but it certainly is about building a new industry here in Tasmania. It’s, the Australian defence industry is really important to us here in Tassie and I think we’re demonstrating that we're capable of doing it just like any other state. So very happy to have you here, Prime Minister, and very appreciative of the opportunity for our people and our supply chain.

PRIME MINISTER: Ok, we’ve got time for a couple of questions. [Inaudible]

MR DALE ELPHINSTONE, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, ELPHINSTONE PTY LTD: Just one other comment, sorry, that I think is really important. In our discussions with Hanwha, this may will lead to us building products for other countries overseas. So there's a real opportunity here for us that’s been initiated by the Government for us to join with them to be in the supply chain of much bigger things than we're looking at here. And that's really what we're in, we’re interested in investing our people's time and efforts and our capital in to make sure we can get that done. So I think that's a really important point.

PRIME MINISTER: I agree, Dale.

JOURNALIST: You were met outside by a protester upset about the proposed MMG tailings dam. What's your reaction to that?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's not surprising that not everybody agrees with what the Government our views might be. But what we were announcing today was about our commitment to the forestry industry here in Tasmania, and our Government is committed to the forestry industry.

JOURNALIST: She wasn't happy with what Sussan Ley had to say about it. Have you actually looked into the proposal yourself for a tailings dam in the Tarkine?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll take my advice from the Minister and I think the Minister’s been making the points well.

JOURNALIST: Petrol prices and cost of living are a big concern for Australians today, in particular. What's the Government doing to address them?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, electricity prices are down eight per cent. They’re down five per cent in the last year. What we're seeing with petrol prices, they’re obviously being impacted by the global uncertainty we’re seeing around. That’s why we took steps as a Government to boost our fuel security. We were doing that through the pandemic - accessing reserves and making sure we were well stocked. But at the same time, Australia is not immune from the global uncertainty that we're seeing at the moment. When you've got what's occurring in Europe, particularly on the borders of Ukraine, well, these are troubling and uncertain times. And Australia can't be completely insulated from those sorts of things.

But the best way to ensure we keep downward pressure on inflation and we keep downward pressure on interest rates at a time of great uncertainty is you've got to have a Government that knows how to manage money, and we have demonstrated that. And the objective evidence of that is we're one of nine countries, only nine in the world, to have maintained our AAA credit rating from all the leading credit agencies in the world. You want to have downward pressure on interest rates, downward pressure on inflation and the cost of living, the best way to do that is have a Government that ensures, that knows how to manage money, which we've demonstrated at one of the most difficult times our country has seen since the Great Depression and the Second World War. We have had to invest significantly to keep businesses going.

I was saying to Dale before, to meet those apprentices here today is a great thrill. One of the first things we did, in fact, the first thing that the Treasurer and I did, it was before JobKeeper, we put in place the wage subsidy for apprentices. The reason we did that is we had a great fear that with the economic tsunami that was going to hit Australia through the pandemic, would see all of those skills, all of those apprentices and trainees who had just started or would have started during the pandemic, gone. Last off, first on, their training over. Now, we invested in keeping those skills in businesses just like Dale’s and Kelly right here. And you know what that means, it means coming out the other side of the pandemic, Elphinstone can bid on this contract with Hanwha and be able to secure it because they’ve had the people to actually go and do that job. Had the Government not stepped in and kept those apprentices in training, they're now finishing their apprenticeships. I met a chap down there, he's got a couple of months to go. He would never have finished that apprenticeship. We’ve kept people together in their businesses so they can now go and be competitive, and to be doing it in an area of sovereign manufacturing capability is incredibly exciting. Thanks, everyone. Thanks very much.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43812

Jisoo Kim 21/2/22 Jisoo Kim 21/2/22

Press Conference - Relbia, TAS

21 February 2022

MS BRIDGET ARCHER MP, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BASS: Well, it's terrific to be here at Josef Chromy Winery here in the electorate of Bass. We've just come from across at the actual winery where we've had a tour there, which is actually the electorate of Lyons. I'm here with our candidate for Lyons, Susie Bower, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, and thank you to Dean and to Joseph Chromy for hosting us today. So Susie might tell us about the tour that we’ve just had.

MS SUSIE BOWER, LIBERAL CANDIDATE FOR LYONS: Yeah, it was great. We actually had a look at some of the wines there, had a little bit of a tasting. So, we just, you know, needed to make sure that the wine was very good, which is excellent in Tasmania, as we know. Got on the bottle line with the Prime Minister and his wife, which was great. I think we worked that out pretty well. But it's fantastic, obviously, to have the Prime Minister here in Bass and Lyons. And without further ado, I'd introduce the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Well, thank you, Susie and thank you, Bridget. And it's great to be here with my colleagues, my dear friend the Treasurer, as well as Clare and Wendy. It’s great to have you both here with us.

But to Joseph, to you and Dean, Jenny and I had the great privilege to meet Joseph and Dean just over a week ago at the Ethnic Business Awards, where Joseph was honoured, taking out the major award of that night. Joseph came to this country, fleeing then Czechoslovakia, and he escaped with two other young men and he was the only one who got through, and he came to this country like so many have. And he has established something absolutely magnificent here in Tasmania. He is an incredible Australian story. He's an Australian hero. And I asked him a little while ago, as we were walking through the bottling area, and I said, did you ever think it would get as big as this? And he said, I just thought I'd have a butcher shop, and look at all this. And it just shows what is so possible in this country. And, so Joseph, congratulations, I'm so pleased to be here with Jenny to honour you here in, on your vineyard.

And I'm looking forward, though, to many more coming to Australia, not in the way that Joseph had to come, but as the international visitors - there’s 1.2 million visaed up and ready to come as of today, and the flights are starting to come and they will continue to build up. And here, particularly in Tasmania, our Tasmanian tourism industry and our, the Tassie, the tourism industry isn't just hotels, it's places like this. It's so many parts of the economy which depends on international tourism, and Tasmania has world's best tourism product, not just world's best chardonnay here at the winery here, but world’s best tourism product. And to be have the international visitors come back, that wait is over for them and that wait is over for us, which means we can safely reopen.

And I want to commend the Tasmanian State Government for the great job they've done here on the ground in managing COVID, and Premier Gutwein and the whole time, which means that we can be opening these borders up and we can be opening the international borders. And all of those tourism operators that have persevered and pushed through can now get to the point where they're welcoming those tourists back into the wonderful experiences that we have here in Tasmania and right across the country.

So it's a very exciting, a very exciting day, one that I've been looking forward to for a long time. From the day that I first shut that border right at the start of the pandemic, which enabled us to have one of the lowest death rates from COVID anywhere in the world, one of the strongest economies to push through this pandemic, and one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, we are set up as a country now to really take advantage of the economic opportunities ahead of us, and Tasmania in particular.

You know, there are half the number of people without a job here in Tasmania now than there were when Labor was last in office at a federal level. We've cut the number of people out of a job in Tasmania in half, and that is a tremendous achievement by the small and medium-sized businesses, particularly here in Tasmania, the strong leadership of the State Government here in Tasmania, with good strong economic policies, working together with a strong Liberal-Nationals Government at a federal level, which is giving businesses lower taxes. And I'll ask the Treasurer to speak more about that.

Before I do that, there's another announcement we're making today, and I'll have a bit more to say about it with Senator Duniam a little earlier, a little later on this morning. But we're also announcing $86 million to support our forestry industries in new plantations all around the country. The forestry industry has taken, like the tourism industry, quite a hit, and particularly on, in their case, because of the terrible bushfires we had all around the country. We'd already invested $80 million helping, whether it was the saw millers or the plantation owners or others trying to get back up on their feet. And now we're investing $86 million. That's 150 million trees, new plantings, that will help us achieve our goal of ensuring that we have a sustainable forestry industry, not just here in Tasmania but all around the country.

You know, in other states, in Labor states, they're trying to shut the forestry industry down. Here in Tasmania, we know how important it is. And that's why I really appreciate the great partnership we have with the Gutwein Government here, who believes in the future of the forestry industry on a sustainable basis. So do we. And that's why we're putting funds in on a shared arrangement. We put in 40, state governments put in 60, and then that's matched wholly by the private sector.

So what does that look like? That means we can provide a $4 million grant for a new planting here in Tasmania. The State Government puts in $6, and then the private provider puts in $10. Four million leveraging $20 million of investment in new plantings for our forestry industry. And we need this, as the Treasurer will tell you, the pressures that are on timber prices and getting access to timber products to support so much of our housing construction industry, absolutely critical. So this is an exciting plan and this is in the Budget. We’re announcing, it is in the Budget. This is locked in funding to be there to support our forestry industry and the forestry industry jobs right here in Tasmania. There’s never been a question mark when it comes to the Liberals and Nationals and our forestry industry. You can't say the same about our opponents at this election. They've got a very checkered history. And when you look at what's happening to the forestry industry in other states and territories where Labor Governments are running the show, they're running those down. Not here, and that's why I'm pleased to be supporting Premier Gutwein in the work we're doing in Tasmania on this issue. I'm happy to take questions after, but I'll allow the Treasurer to fill you in on other issues.

THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Well, thank you very much, Prime Minister. It's a real pleasure to be here with you and Jenny in sunny Tasmania and to be here with my and the Prime Minister's colleagues - and Bridget and Susie and, of course, Clare and Wendy. Thank you for your very strong advocacy on behalf of the people of Tasmania. And Joseph, congratulations on building this wonderful business. I understand at the ripe old age of 76, your young age, dare I say it, and what you've done here and now into your 70s, still hands on and still growing a wonderful business.

Well, the Morrison Government has stood by the people of Tasmania every step of the way through this pandemic. More than $3.5 billion has been provided to the people of Tasmania, and as our economy strongly recovers, it's easy to forget what the conditions were like back in early 2020. And when we announced JobKeeper, that provided $1.4 billion to the people of Tasmania, including more than 70,000 workers across this state. The cash flow boost provided another $700 million to the people of Tasmania, and other payments also contributed to Tasmania's strong recovery. And now Tasmania has its lowest unemployment rate on record, at 3.8 per cent, lower than the national average. And as the Prime Minister said, when the Coalition came to Government the unemployment rate here in Tasmania was eight per cent. It's now less than half at 3.8 per cent, and more than 30,000 new jobs have been created. And we're providing tax relief to more than 230,000 people in Tasmania - an average tax relief of more than $3,000 to those people. And of course, small business taxes are now their lowest level in 50 years and more than 60,000 businesses here in Tasmania are benefitting from our small business tax cuts.

And, of course, we continue in the Budget in just over a month's time to lock in that recovery, sticking to our economic plan - lower taxes, more investment in infrastructure, more investment in skills, manufacturing as a key driver of growth across the economy and our energy plan. And, of course, the digital economy, which we're investing in heavily. That's our plan to create more jobs here in Tasmania and across Australia. And let's not forget that the unemployment rate today at 4.2 per cent nationally, 3.8 per cent in Tasmania, is the lowest unemployment rate nationally in 13 years, and we're heading to the lowest unemployment rate in some 50 years. That's an enormous achievement, and it's possible because of people like Joseph who are investing in their staff, investing in their business, growing, hiring and innovating.

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Happy to take some questions. Josh if you want to join me.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you about AGL?

PRIME MINISTER: Sure.

JOURNALIST: And the takeover and plan by Mike Cannon-Brookes to get rid of coal as fast as possible, it would seem. The barbarians at the gate. How do you, how do you guarantee price and supply for the
rest of Australia?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me start with what we have done. In the last two years, electricity prices have fallen by eight per cent. In the last 12 months, they've fallen by five per cent. Now, that compares to when Labor was in Government, where it increased by over 100 per cent. And so whether it has been our our work with the, with the gas price mechanism that we put in place, which has been able to keep gas prices down, which is critical to also to keep electricity prices down, and the many other measures we've done to support affordable, reliable energy, that is what has been enabling us to keep those electricity prices down, and that is our record. And, so, going forward, we will continue to get the balance right when it comes to ensuring affordable, reliable energy, and ensuring we're developing the new energy sources that are renewable and have low emissions. We've got $21 billion invested in those projects, and Susie in particular would know about this in terms of hydrogen and the great opportunities in Bell Bay when it comes to hydrogen and the massive investments we are making in that area. And in doing that in partnership with so many other countries around the world.

Now in in relation to the the bid being put up by Brookfield, I should stress. I mean, Brookfield are about 80 per cent of this deal. Mike Cannon-Brookes is about 20 per cent of this deal. My advice this morning is that that hasn't been accepted by the board of AGL, and so there'll be quite a process to run there. But let me be really clear about something. We need to ensure that our coal-fired generation of electricity runs to its life, because if it doesn't, electricity prices go up, they don't go down. And so our Government is very committed to ensure we sweat those assets for their life to ensure that businesses can get access to the electricity and energy that they need at affordable prices to keep people in jobs. And what's essential is that we get the balance right with our energy policy. Our opponents at this election, the Labor Party, have emissions reduction targets which are not forecast to be achieved when it comes to the current policy settings. So they'll have to do more. Our policy is about technology, not taxes. Labor's is technology plus taxes. And so we will always focus on getting electricity prices down, getting the balance right and ensuring that those important generation assets that underpin people's jobs and keep their cost of living down are protected.

JOURNALIST: Treasurer, would you also consider using your FIRB powers in this context?

THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Well, as the PM said, there's a long way to go with this bid. It has yet to be accepted by the shareholders, and of course, there would be the proper regulatory approvals that would be required. The ACCC, the AER and others would be heavily invested in that process, and, of course, FIRB would be as well. So I wouldn't want to pre-empt any decisions out of that because we're not yet at a point where the bid has been accepted by the shareholders. But the key point here is that Australia is investing heavily in renewables and we've got a plan out to net zero by 2050. But a key issue for Australians, together with lower emissions, is the affordability of power, and across the rest of the world we've seen energy prices go up. I mean, inflation is higher in the United States, it's higher in the United Kingdom. One of those reasons is because of electricity prices. Yet here in Australia, our track record has been to lower electricity prices, whereas when Labor was last in Government, electricity prices doubled.

PRIME MINISTER: So and emissions are down more than 20 per cent. So we've got electricity prices down by eight per cent in just the last two years. And we've got emissions down on 2005 levels by 20 per cent. Now that's the quinella.

JOURNALIST: The Tasmanian Premier is doing a media job at around the same time this morning. Why aren’t you together?

PRIME MINISTER: We’ll, we hopefully will catch up when I'm here. I'm, not on every occasion I come to Tasmania, do we get to catch up. But we do speak very regularly. We're working through some important issues around the Lyons Link, the Marinus Link project, at the moment. The Treasurer and the Energy Minister have been involved with that. And so if the opportunity presents, then, as always, I look forward to catching up with Pete when I'm here. I'm not going to play him at pool though. The last time I played him at pool in Launceston he completely cleaned me up over at Sporties. But I think I’ll, next time I'm pairing with him when we're playing doubles. He's too good.

JOURNALIST: But how do you think that looks to Tasmanian voters that you're not appearing at a media job together?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we both have our jobs to do. Today he's focusing on the things he is doing in Tasmania. I'm focusing on the things we're bringing to Tasmania. I don't agree with the implication of the question at all. I mean, he's doing a fantastic job and he works closely with me on all of these issues. And if we get the opportunity to catch up in Hobart, which I hope we can, then that'll be great.

JOURNALIST: Speaking of, you are here now, obviously in one of the more marginal electorates. Do you plan many more visits in the lead up to the election?

PRIME MINISTER: Of course.

JOURNALIST: When can we expect you back?

PRIME MINISTER: Soon and often. I love being in Tasmania, I love being in Tasmania, and, you know, Susie and Bridget and Gav they are going to make, be a great team, a great Liberal team for Tasmania, and what they're able to achieve. You know, they're they’re feisty, they speak their mind, they stand up for their electorates, they put their electorates first and they bring the voice of Tasmania into my Government. And I'm really keen for Susie to join that team and to ensure that she can be speaking up for what is such a large part of Tasmania and in the electorate of Lyons, and to ensure that their industries have a future, their heavy industries have a future. But also they're playing a role, particularly in hydrogen and new energy economy opportunities, that's being realised here in Tasmania. So the trifecta of what you see, together with Bridget and Gav with Susie, I think will be a great team for Tasmania as part of my Government.

JOURNALIST: You definitely still back Bridget, even though she has been speaking out against some things lately?

PRIME MINISTER: Of course. I mean, there's a difference between the Liberal Party and the Labor Party, and my dear Victorian colleague can speak more to this about the Labor Party in Victoria than I can. But in our party, we don't throw people out because we don't always agree on everything. That's the nature of the Liberal Party. It's called Liberal for a reason. The Labor Party throw people out when they speak up on important issues to them. In Victoria at the moment, the Victorian Labor Party is looking to run out of town, run out of their party, someone who's blowing the whistle on alleged corruption in that state. And what's the Labor Party's response? To throw out a female Member of Parliament, run them out of the Labor Party, because they're standing up on an issue that’s incredibly important. Now that's not what we're talking about here in my Government. Bridget, I know, is passionate. Bridget has come with life experience to our team that I greatly value and I greatly respect. You know, we love Bridge. We really do. And I'm really pleased she's on my team, and she's on my team and she's a fiery member of my team and she's a fiery Member for Bass.

JOURNALIST: Ukraine's Foreign Minister says he spoke to Marise Payne about providing military technical support. Can you spell out what that would include?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't think it is appropriate for me to go into details of what are effectively very sensitive matters, particularly given we are in a situation in Ukraine where we have Russian troops amassed on the border. And so we are working very closely with our partners right across the region, in Europe and more broadly. That involves the actions we would take with sanctions should Russia follow through on their threats of violence and intimidation on Ukraine. And while I would hope that these last gasp diplomatic efforts will have some success, what we can't abide is authoritarian regimes threatening and intimidating their neighbours for the purpose of trying to grab some sort of advantage. The threats against Ukraine are uninvited, unprovoked, unwarranted, and unacceptable, and we cannot have a situation where any authoritarian regime and autocratic power can go and seek to use bullying and intimidation as a way of extracting advantage. There's a lot at stake here in terms of what's happening in Ukraine. We see this in our own region and our Government has stood up more to those threats of intimidation more than any other government before. When it comes to seeing that, you have to go back to the Second World War. And so our Government will continue to be strong of against threats of intimidation against Australia.

I mean, we've seen over the weekend you would have seen the reports of a Chinese naval vessel using a laser to target a Australian Defence Force surveillance aircraft. This is completely unacceptable. And so we have demanded that there be an investigation on the behaviour of what occurred on that vessel. It was dangerous, it was reckless, and it was unprofessional for what should be a sophisticated Navy. So we expect China to provide some answers on those matters and we are going through those appropriate channels to achieve that. And we expect, and not just Australia, all countries in the region demand an answer to this because it's an Australian surveillance aircraft this time. Who's next? And so it's very important that China explain themselves for this act of recklessness in our exclusive economic zone. They had every right to be there and travelling through those waters. Just as Australian vessels has every right to be up through the South China Sea, as well as the British and the Americans and the Japanese and the French and the Germans and and the Canadians and everyone else sails through there. But it's not okay to be doing what occurred there on the weekend, and we expect a full explanation.

JOURNALIST: In the past the Government's been reluctant to publicly name China when laser attacks have occurred. What’s changed? Why would the Government, why has the Government been so quick to call this out?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it happened, and it is indisputable. It was a Chinese naval vessel. It wasn't operating under some other flag. I mean, I’m, it was possible that people could even see the vessel from our mainland, potentially. And so we disclosed it, which is entirely appropriate, and we disclosed it because this needs to be called out. This is not ok, and there needs to be an explanation, not just to Australia, but all peace loving nations within our region. We can't have this sort of behaviour going on in our region. It's not on.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how do you respond to unions saying that they're pushing hard for wage rises now? That's kind of what the Reserve Bank says they should do. What's your response to them?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, all I know about the unions today is in my home city of Sydney they've shut down the city with a massive big strike, and they're the international gateway for international tourists to Australia. And the union movement has decided to set out a big welcome by shutting down the trains and causing gridlock around the city. I mean, Joel Fitzgibbon, the Labor Member, said today that Sydneysiders would be sympathetic to this. I don't think so. If you're trying to get your kids to school this morning in Sydney, or you're hit with a $60 Uber bill just trying to get to work, or you're sitting in gridlock traffic and can't get to that meeting because the unions decide to put on a strike at 2am this morning, throwing Sydneysiders into complete chaos. I mean, this is what Labor think they can get away with when they think they're going to win an election. Imagine what they'd be like if they actually won it. We had the AMWU just over a week ago protesting against AUKUS for goodness sake - protesting against the most significant step forward in Australia's security arrangements with our partners since ANZUS itself, and only last year we had to stare down the Maritime Union who were trying to cause havoc on our wharves. So, you know, if people want to hand the country over to unions, under a Labor Government led by the most left wing Labor leader in 50 years since Gough Whitlam, and that's probably being a bit unkind to Gough, you might have to go back further than that, then this is what they can expect. Weakness cannot stand up to that sort of intimidation by unions.

THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: And this is, this is not just this strike. Just a few weeks ago the ACTU were promising and threatening wider strikes to our supply chains. Now our recovery’s not yet locked in. We are acknowledging the fact that the unemployment rate has come down and that fiscal and monetary policy will start to normalise, but we can't take the gains that we've made for granted and we can't put them at risk by this unnecessary and threatening behaviour by unions.

PRIME MINISTER: Our businesses will be more prosperous as the economy grows, and I expect that businesses will be able to share those proceeds with their workers. They understand that. I mean, the workers today are in more demand, with unemployment where it is, than it's been and we're heading to in 50 years. And so employers understand they need to keep their staff. They need, they know they need skilled staff to be competitive and it's in their interest to make sure that they're supporting their employees and their workforce in the way they need to.

Yep. Sorry you’ve had quite a few, there are others who’ve been patiently waiting for a question.

JOURNALIST: When’s the $20 million for Tasmanian forestries likely to flow?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that will depend, you’re referring to this current program we've announced today? We’ll be, we’ll be writing out to the premiers and chief ministers as a result of this announcement. But with the engagement we’ve already had with the Tasmanian Government, they have always been a very strong supporter of the Tasmanian forestry industry. And so I would be surprised if there was any hesitancy there, and I would have thought Tasmania would be one of the first ones to move.

JOURNALIST: Why didn’t the Federal Government respond to Tasmania's request for a new assistance package for businesses in recent times?

THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: I can refer to that. Premier Gutwein did write to me and, as you know, the New South Wales Government also asked us for further economic support, but we took a decision that the economy is recovering strongly and we have to draw some lines. We were there when the economy went into hibernation, with JobKeeper and the cash flow boost. We were there when New South Wales and Victoria were hit by the Delta outbreak and we put in place the COVID support payments for families, which we picked up the whole bill. And then we went into a 50-50 arrangement on business support payments. But you have to draw the line somewhere.

Now, again, there's a real contrast between our approach and the Labor Party. They have made more than $80 billion of additional spending promises through COVID. They wanted JobKeeper to be extended and expanded. They wanted those COVID Disaster Payments through Delta to keep going, even when we brought them to an end. And now they want further support payments to be rolled out across the economy. We are now drawing some clear lines and the Budget will seek to lock in the gains that we've made, but also, as the Prime Minister has outlined, sticking to our five step economic plan, ensuring that we are going to reward Australians with more money in their pocket with lower taxes, that we invest in skills like the JobTrainer program, like wage subsidies for apprentices, that we roll out our $100 billion 10-year infrastructure pipeline, that we continue to invest in the digital economy, as we're doing. And that, of course, we focus on lower energy prices with our plan to get to net zero but in a cost effective way. And then, of course, the manufacturing sector, which is really a great opportunity for Australia in six key areas. That's our economic plan. That's what we're investing in. That's what we're sticking to. And that is what has helped deliver Australia the lowest unemployment rate in 13 years, even in the face of the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression.

PRIME MINISTER: Now, the Treasurer's being modest, because we've maintained our AAA credit rating.

THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: That's true.

PRIME MINISTER: And one of the reasons we've been able to do that through the pandemic is rating agencies have looked at what we've done. They've understood the investment’s significant, unprecedented, in this country - JobKeeper, the cash flow boost, the COVID Disaster Payments, all of this - and they could see that it was supporting our economy to ensure it could come through, and indeed it has. But if there'd been an extra $80 billion, as Labor had sought to do, it would have certainly put that at risk. And what does that mean for people listening on at home? If you can't have control of your Budget and if you don't manage your finances carefully, that puts pressure on inflation. It drives inflation up, which means you're going to see interest rates rise as well. Now, the Reserve Bank sets interest rates, and the pressure on interest rates to rise is only going to increase over the next few years. The pressure on inflation is only going to increase. What Australia cannot afford is a Labor Party that doesn't know how to manage money. That will see you pay more for everything.

Sorry, over here. You haven’t had a question.

JOURNALIST: When do you expect tourism levels to return to pre-pandemic levels now that international borders are open?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think it's going to take some time, to be honest. I mean, it's not just here in Australia. The whole world is winding up again and its international business. I mean, as you know, I've worked in the tourism and travel business. I mean, all of the distribution systems in international travel products, so many of the companies that were involved overseas in bringing tourists to Australia, the people who were working there are gone. Many of those businesses have fallen over and there's a lot of work to do in rebuilding all of those channels, supply channels, to be bringing tourists to Australia. And Tourism Australia has kicked off their $40 million campaign to start that in all of our key markets where they can come to Australia and they will, and we’ll see it build up over time. But it's going to require a lot of effort, working closely with the tourism industry, to ensure they build this back up. But, you know, look around us, this is the best tourism product in the world. It's the best tourism experiences in the world. This is what they've been waiting for. We're opening up and we will see it build again, with the aviation links being restored, with the support being provided to to work with the tourism and travel operators around the world to bring tourists back to Australia, and products here in Australia, businesses that have been able to keep their staff, keep their business whole because of the support we've given through JobKeeper, cash flow boost and so on. So it will recover. And my hope is it will recover strongly and soon. But we shouldn't overestimate the challenge that we have ahead because everyone else will be competing with us and we'll be right out there competing against them and working hard to achieve what we all want to achieve. Last one.

JOURNALIST: Can we get your response to the news overnight that the Queen has caught COVID?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, this is very upsetting, and I'm sure particularly for Her Majesty and her family. At 95, obviously getting COVID is more of a concern than for at other age groups, and we wish her a full recovery. And there are a few more resilient people than Her Majesty. She's demonstrated that over a lifetime. Now I've met her on a number of occasions, and I met her with Jenny, and I have no doubt that she'll be taking good care of herself and she’ll be getting the best of care. I'd send her a message that I was able to congratulate a lady in my own electorate in Sutherland Shire who just turned 101, and she'd just come through COVID herself. So if they can do it in the Shire, I'm sure they can do it at the Palace too. And I reckon they're both made of the same metal. Thanks very much, everyone.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43810

Jisoo Kim 20/2/22 Jisoo Kim 20/2/22

Press Conference - Melbourne, VIC

20 February 2022

Prime Minister: Well, good morning, everyone. It's great to be here in Melbourne. It's great to be at the Melbourne International Airport, because this place is about to get busy and international airports all around the country. The wait is over. There's some more than 1.2 million people around the world who are visaed up and they can come. And in the next 24 hours, some 56 flights are going to touch down in Australia, and that number is only going to grow.

I want to thank all of those in our international tourism industry here in Australia. To them, I say, whether they're up in Far North Queensland or here in one of our biggest cities, where international tourism is so important, thank you. Thank you for pushing through over the course of this pandemic. The wait is over. The tourists are coming back and my message to them is, to tourists all around the world, pack your bags, come and have one of the greatest experiences you could ever imagine - the experience you've been waiting for. You can come here and have it, have that here in Australia. And don't forget to bring your money with you, because you'll find plenty of places to spend it and have the trip and experience of a lifetime.

The tourism industry has really borne the brunt of this COVID pandemic, not just here but all around the world, and particular parts of the country have felt it more than others. That's why I'm excited to know that we're going from COVID cautious to COVID confident when it comes to travel. And that is also true and we're seeing that around Australia increasingly as our borders open up, we're pushing through again. It's been tough, but Australia is pushing through.

So we're very excited that from tomorrow those international flights for visitors are able to return again. They can come and we can start building, once again, our very important tourism economy here right across the country - from our biggest cities where I am today, to our Far North Queensland regional locations all around the country, and the Top End where I was yesterday up in Darwin and in central Australia, in Alice Springs.

Tourists are coming back. That means those jobs become more certain going forward. Those earnings start to roll back into the country again and we start building up again as we push through this pandemic and we come out confidently on the other side. Happy to take some questions.

Journalist: Fifty or so flights tomorrow, is that, do you feel like that's a soft relaunch rather than a flood?

Prime Minister: What we'll see is these flights obviously increase, and I think we'll particularly see them increasing in in ports like here in Melbourne. Already in Sydney where where we've had the airports and other areas open for much longer, we will see, I I have no doubt, Melbourne start to receive even more of those flights.

What's also important is Tourism Australia, got a $40 million tourism campaign, which is out there to coincide with this. They've been getting ready over the course of the pandemic. I know the tourism industry has been getting ready. I know the airlines have been getting ready. So all the readiness puts us in a strong position to go forward from tomorrow.

Journalist: WA's still waiting a couple of weeks. What do you, in short, I guess, what do you firstly make of WA's decision to finally reopen its borders?

Prime Minister: Well, I welcome the fact that Western Australia is safely reopening, just as I welcome the fact that Australia is safely reopening, and I want to say to Australians as we move into this next important phase of our response to the COVID pandemic, it was one of the first things we did, is we shut the borders, starting first of all with China. And that was incredibly important and that helped us achieve in this country what few others could around the world. We have one of the lowest rates of death of COVID in the world. We have one of the strongest advanced economies coming through this pandemic anywhere in the world. We have the highest, one of the highest rates of vaccination anywhere in the world. We've got the treatments, we've got the vaccinations, and we're here managing this pandemic better than almost any other country in the world. And that's why we can take this step. That's why the wait is over, Australia. Because you've done the hard yards, you've done the work, you've pushed through, you've persevered. And now we can start going forward together.

Journalist: Just on Ukraine, what additional supports will the Australian Government provide Ukraine?

Prime Minister: Well, we've been in dialogue with Ukraine for some time now. The Foreign Minister, Minister Payne, will be meeting with her counterpart tomorrow, and there is currently the Munich Conference going, Security Conference going on presently. And while of course there's never been any contemplation of Australian troops being deployed, at the same time, there are many ways we work with both our partners and our allies and can work directly to support Ukraine in the work they're doing, whether it be in the cyberspace area or things of that nature, the planning and various other elements, working with our partners and allies. I can't go into too much detail on this, but these are rather conventional ways where we do provide assistance, in in areas that don't require deployment of troops on on the ground.

Journalist: How about the deployment of military assistance?

Prime Minister: Pardon me?

Journalist: How about, how about military equipment?

Prime Minister: Well, we've been, we'll work with our allies and partners. Our allies and partners I've had those discussions with very recently, and we'll work together as part of the team. And what are we working towards? It is unacceptable because it's unwarranted, it's unprovoked in terms of the threats of terrible violence that Russia is imposing on Ukraine. This is not a any legitimate action. There is no just grievance which is being pursued by Russia in relation to Ukraine. Ukraine is a country that wants to make its own decisions, who wants to join NATO - that's up to them. It's not up to other countries to seek to bully them out of the decisions that they want to make as sovereign countries, and they cannot use threats of violence to intimidate countries in this way. It's not just about their territorial sovereignty. It's also about the fact that they're trying to bully and coerce them out of making decisions that are ultimately up to them to make, whether they join it or not. That's a matter for Ukraine. It's not a matter for anyone else, and they have every right to make that decision as a sovereign nation. And that's why it's so important that free countries of the world are out there giving them so much support. Australia has always stood up to bullying and coercion and we will continue to do that, whether it's supporting Ukraine or indeed supporting Lithuania, when I met with the Foreign Minister when he was out here recently.

Journalist: Is that a yes to equipment or a no to equipment?

Prime Minister: It's a we'll work with partners and our programs will be announced in in partnership with them. I'm not pre-empting any of that.

Journalist: No decision?

Prime Minister: No, I'm not saying that, I'm not saying that. This is a very serious issue. So let's not go for that sort of thing. We're working closely with our partners. This is a highly secure environment. And we will conduct those discussions in secure discussions with our partners and allies. And I'm not about to telecast to those who want to set, get involved in violence against another country the precise nature of what Australia's action will be. I think that's the responsible thing.

Journalist: Is Australia contemplating additional sanctions or imposing additional sanctions on Russia?

Prime Minister: Well, of course we are, should they follow through on their their acts of violence against Ukraine. We will follow through with sanctions, together and in partnership with all of our other allies and partners, and they, they, that is one of the key issues of discussion that we have been engaged in with other leaders and with other countries, and to ensure that we move together, because the world will be moving together to seek to counteract what would be a terrible act of violence - unprovoked, unjustified, unwarranted, unacceptable.

Journalist: Speaking of unprovoked acts, can you tell us about what happened in the Arafura Sea on Thursday?

Prime Minister: Well, of course, this is very concerning. It's no great surprise that we've got Chinese naval vessels moving through the Arafura Sea. That's not the first time these things have occurred to have such vessels doing that. We've had those vessels, we've had vessels off our coast, off the Queensland coast, keeping a close watch on Australia. And I can assure you, we keep a close watch on them. I'm very concerned about the actions, though, of using the lasers on an Australian surveillance aircraft. That is, I can see it no other way than an act of intimidation, one that was unprovoked, unwarranted and Australia will never accept such acts of intimidation. There were in our exclusive economic zone. It did not occur in Australian waters. But I have no doubt that it had been an Australian vessel, or a British vessel, American vessel, a French vessel, a Japanese vessel for that matter, or German, that was going through a similar waters up in the South China Sea and that was done to a Chinese surveillance aircraft, then I think people can guess about what reaction to that would have been.

So it was a dangerous act. These sorts of things can disable such aircraft and put those on that aircraft at great risk. So I thought it was a reckless and irresponsible act. And and it's, it should not occur. Now, we're raising those issues directly through the diplomatic and defence channels. But what I can tell you is, the way Australia stands up to coercion and bullying and intimidation and threats is what my Government has been doing. That is why we've increased our defence capability spending. That is why we've increased our investments in the intelligence services. That is why we increased our investment in our border protection agencies. That is why, among so many other reasons, we bounded together to form important relationships like the AUKUS arrangement. And why we work with our Quad partners and others in the region to ensure that not only Australia doesn't have to put up with threats and intimidation and coercion, but all countries who live in the Indo-Pacific region can look forward to a free and open Indo-Pacific. And that's why we work closely with them.

If you want to take a strong stance on these issues, it's not just about what we say, it's about what you do, and what our Government has been doing has been protecting Australia's national interest and protecting us from such threats and intimidation to increase our resilience to withstand them, and to ensure that Australia can be kept safe.

Journalist: Should Australians be nervous?

Prime Minister: What we should always be is aware, that's what Australians should be in relation to what we've seen in the Arafura Sea. And I think this highlights why, as a Government, we have made this such a significant issue. It is a significant issue. It is a very serious issue. I said some time ago when we've been doing our defence planning and updating our strategic defence documents and planning about why we need to be taking the decisions we are. That's why we increased defence spending to above two per cent of the size of our economy. When we came to Government, it was at its lowest level since the, before the start of the Second World War. Our Government has demonstrated our credentials on national security by turning around investment in our Defence Forces. We didn't cut funding like Labor did. We increased funding. We didn't cut funding to intelligence services like Labor did. We increased funding. We didn't abandon our borders as Labor did and with the terrible events we saw under Labor. We increased our investment in our border protection and we established the Australian Border Force. They are the measures of comparison when it comes to determining who is best able to keep Australian's safe and stand up to threats and intimidation. It's not just about what you say, it's about what you do, and this is what we have done.

Journalist: Is there any reason to believe that the incident at the Arafura Sea is in response to or is in any way connected to Russia's potential invasion of Ukraine?

Prime Minister: No, I I don't think those links can be drawn.

Journalist: When you say the response would go through diplomatic channels ...

Prime Minister: And defence channels.

Journalist: That doesn't involve you. I'm just saying, should you get involved? Is it as simple as ...

Prime Minister: You can be, well the, well, we'll be making our views very, very clear to the Chinese Government about the dangerous acts that took place in the Arafura Sea, and this only strengthens my resolve to ensure we keep going down the path of boosting Australia's resilience, taking this issue as seriously as you possibly can take it, as we have always done. It has been our Government that has stood up to these threats and coercion over many years now. We've shown that resolve, we've shown that strength. And we've done it in the face of criticism, including here in our own country from those who think an appeasement path should be taken. I won't be intimidated by it. And the appeasement path is not something my Government will ever go down.

Journalist: Why do you think they did that?

Prime Minister: Well, they will have to explain their own actions, and I think that's important. And it's not just important for Australia, but I think all around the region this explanation should be provided as to why a military vessel, a naval vessel, in Australia's exclusive economic zone, would undertake such an act, such a dangerous act in relation to Australian surveillance aircraft, legitimately doing what it's doing, doing their job, being where they have every right to be. And that act of intimidation is not just a message that I suppose they're trying to send to Australia, a message that we will respond to. But it is a sign of the sort of threats and intimidation that can occur to any country in our region. And that's why we need to band together. Ok, thanks very much everybody.

Journalist: Just one more on tourism.

Prime Minister: Ok one more on tourism, fine, yeah, sure.

Journalist: Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry. So China was obviously one of our biggest incoming tourism markets. Are you at all concerned that your recent rhetoric would see less of them coming into the country?

Prime Minister: No I don’t believe so, and and and they’re not able to travel to Australia at the moment. So that’s why we’re focusing our campaign on those markets that are open to travel to Australia. And that’s where the campaign is being focused. Australia is one of the most popular destinations of choice all around the world, including out of China, and including students. So I know that whether it’s Chinese travellers or whether it’s Japanese travellers, or European travellers, North American travellers, this is where they want to come, and now they can come here, and we’re looking forward to welcoming them and they’re going to get a very special welcome as they arrive here, particularly over the next few days. Thanks very much everyone.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43805

Jisoo Kim 19/2/22 Jisoo Kim 19/2/22

Remarks, Bombing of Darwin 80th Anniversary Commemorative Service

19 February 2022

PRIME MINISTER: Aunty, thank you for your Welcome to Country.

Your Excellency the Governor-General, Your Honour the Administrator, parliamentary colleagues – the Minister for Defence, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Leader of the Opposition.

To Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition here in the Northern Territory, and Your Worship the Mayor.

Most of all, to the people of Darwin.

We gather here, on the land of the Larrakia, to listen. To draw strength from those who have gone before, and to remember their lessons.

Eighty years ago, the future of the Pacific hung in the balance. The impregnable Singapore had fallen. Territory in New Guinea had been captured. The Dutch East Indies were under siege. And a brutal foe was advancing towards us.

And on this day, the Australian mainland was attacked by a foreign enemy for the very first time – 242 aircraft in two waves. On sea and on land, everything that moved was strafed or bombed.

There was devastation on the water – the Neptunia, Barosa, Zealandia, Meigs, Swan, Don Isidro, Florence Dee, and the gallant USS Peary.

One hundred American servicemen were lost on that day and we honour our American friends who are here with us today.

Even a hospital ship was attacked – the Manunda – painted in white with giant red crosses. They could not have been mistaken.

Throughout the city, little was spared – the Post Office, the Cable Office, the Government House, Police Barracks, Air Force Station and the local hospitals were attacked.

The onslaught was met with many acts of bravery, courage and compassion. Anti-aircraft gunners giving their all, pilots entering the fray despite the forces of numbers against them, the Peery with its guns blazing until the very end, and the civilians commandeering small boats in fiery waters looking for survivors as they were treated here.

And on that clear morning, more bombs rained down on this city, this small city of Darwin, of a few thousand than had been delivered on Pearl Harbor 10 weeks before.

19 February 1942 marked an awakening. As the author Peter Grose argues, if the birth of Australia as a nation took place on the shores of Gallipoli, then it was on this day, at this place, that an independent Australia took charge of its destiny.

No longer could we look to the British or further afield. We had to look to ourselves. No longer was our world shaped by Europe. Our world was here in the Indo-Pacific where we live.

The Bombing of Darwin was the start of 64 air raids on the Top End, which continued until November 1943. The story of those raids is one of adaptation and endurance, of defences being strengthened, of gunners becoming more experienced, and of Australians always standing together – civilians and soldiers, men and women, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, at home and abroad.

So here in Australia’s only north facing city, the city that engages with our neighbours, and trades with the world, we remember what was, but we give thanks for the peace gifted to us.

In this place of great violence 80 years ago, more recently I stood here with the Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister Abe, so it could become a place of reconciliation. And together we laid a wreath here, in silence, and reflected on those times.

There was a quietness and stillness that day. I wish all who had been in Darwin in 1942 and 1943 could have been there with us, but certainly were in spirit.

Because that enemy that inflicted such violence on this city and this that nation, on this day, has now become one of our most trusted and loyal friends. And a partner with Australia and the United States in building a world that favours freedom. A world of human dignity, human rights, and the rights of nations to live free of coercion and bullying. That is their legacy.

Friends, though our world has changed, our task remains to be prepared for any eventuality, to defend our values in a difficult world, as it was done right here on this day 80 years ago. And to live out these values with the same courage and the same strength and the same steadfastness that the people of Darwin showed 80 years ago.

Lest we forget.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43804

Lachlan Nicolson 19/2/22 Lachlan Nicolson 19/2/22