Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PRIME MINISTER: It's tough.

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

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

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

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

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