Interview with Spencer Howson, 4BC

SPENCER HOWSON: Scott Morrison, good morning.

PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Spencer.

HOWSON: Are you in Queensland yet or are you flying in today?

PRIME MINISTER: Not yet. We'll be up there very, very soon. Heading up there this morning and looking forward to to meeting with a lot of young people, talking about the challenges that they face in dealing with social media. This is a big focus, has been for our Government over the past three years, taking on those big tech giants to make sure that the online world can be safe, particularly for our kids. As a parent, I know it's it's one of the things that totally concerns us, and I know for so many parents. This is one of the key issues that our Government has been so focused on, and at the end of the day, that's what matters most to families - focusing on the things that matter most to them.

HOWSON: You're launching this, it's called the Online Safety Youth Advisory Council - 20 young Australians, 13 to 24 years of age. What will they do? Who will they be?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, they'll be working in with Julie Inman Grant, who is the, is the world's first eSafety Commissioner, and Julie has some significant powers that enables her to work directly with the tech giants to have material taken down. It helps us better understand the challenges that young people are facing in the online world. Now, we've already taken strong action on these issues. We've already introduced laws to support the safety of people online. And when we come back in in February, we'll be, we'll be implementing more laws which hold these digital companies to account and unmask the trolls, to make it not possible for people to pretend to be someone else. If they, if they won't tell the digital companies who they are, then we'll hold the digital companies legally responsible directly, and it's a world first. I was just talking to the Korean President about it last night, and they were very interested in in the leadership that Australia is showing in this area. And it's just such an enormous issue. I mean, our kids are growing up in a completely different digital world to the one we did. And we need to keep them safe. And it's particularly true for women and for girls. The online space is a place where they get trolled, they get harassed, they get abused, and we've got to do everything we can to keep them safe.

HOWSON: Will this Online Safety Youth Advisory Council start before the election, or is this an election promise?

PRIME MINISTER: No, we hope, we hope that that will start before then. That's our intention. So we're just moving on that now. It's it's just one additional thing we're doing. We've done so much in this area and have been recognised around the world for doing it. We have been the first to really stand up to these big tech giants and hold them accountable. They've built this world. They've got to make it safe. I mean, it's got great advantages. Of course it does. But, at the same time, it has to be safe.

HOWSON: Prime Minister, you're a casual COVID contact this morning after being at an event on Friday night. Is it still safe for you to come to Queensland today?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes, and that's been confirmed by the Chief Medical Officer and Queensland authorities. I've had two PCR tests since then, and that's what living with the virus is. I mean, the virus is there. Omicron is in Australia and we're going to live with this virus. We're not going to let it drag us back to where we've been. We've got one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. We're about to tip over 90 per cent double dose vaccinated all around the country. Yesterday, we had another bumper day in terms of our booster program. Almost 100,000 got their boosters yesterday, and we need people to keep going out and getting their boosters. It's it's one of the key weapons we've got against Omicron, but we've got to keep moving forward. We can't, we can't slip back. It's great Queensland's opened up, but we need to make sure we're using better and faster methods to ensure that we can get people back in the community doing what they love doing, reclaiming their lives. Time for Australians to step forward and for government's, frankly, to step back. I think Australians have had just about enough of governments telling them what to do.

HOWSON: You hosted the South Korean President last night for dinner, as as you mentioned already. Should he be concerned that you're a casual contact from that event on Friday night?

PRIME MINISTER: No, they totally were not. They were totally relaxed about it. That's the thing. The world's living with it, so we've got to live with it. And these are, there are simple tools that we have to manage it. And and I think, you know, just got to be careful. Of course we're taking Omicron desperately seriously. We are. But we're not about to start going backwards. We're going to keep going forwards. I mean, the livelihoods of Australians depend on it, the health of Australians. We have one of the lowest death rates in the world from COVID. We have the, one of the strongest advanced economies in the world as we've pushed through COVID, and we want to continue that, and we've got one of the highest vaccination rates, which means we can fight this thing. We don't have to surrender to it.

HOWSON: What do you make of these two flights that came into Queensland on Monday and every passenger on board is now in home quarantine for 14 days, including Christmas? It's it's hard to get confident again about travelling, isn't it, when when that's going on?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think that's a fair comment. But, you know, and of course, we've got to be careful, and I understand that's the intention of the Queensland Government. But what I would hope would happen is that they would be doing everything they possibly can. It's not Christmas yet, for around, almost two weeks. And, so, PCR testing, being able to look at ways to ensure people will be able to join their families before Christmas, I would hope, was a very high priority for them. I mean, there's nothing magical about 14 days, but with PCR testing and other things that can be done, I'm sure those who have been caught up in that would be happy to have those tests every single day for five days or seven days to ensure that they'd be able to be with their families. That's a matter for the Queensland Government. They're the ones who've made this decision. But I think we've got to be more innovative and we've got to be finding ways to let people re-join the community. That's got to be our goal. And governments have got to be fleet-footed and innovative and thinking of those that are impacted by this to ensure that they can be reunited. It's ultimately a decision for the Queensland Government and I understand what they're seeking to do. But Omicron is in Australia and we've got to live with it. We can't live in fear of it.

HOWSON: So then, when are we going to see cruise operators given the green light, if we've got to live with this? They, P&O today are cancelling a raft of cruises. They say that cruising from February 17, which is what it's been put back to at this point, you know, then they've got to ramp up, they've got to get the ships to Australia. It's very frustrating.

PRIME MINISTER: It's terribly frustrating. We're, the Federal Government is keen to move on this as soon as we can, and we're, and we're waiting for the clearances out of the state health authorities, including here in my home state. And I know here in New South Wales they're they're working to get that done. I understand that it's, you know, they've got to get it right. And, so, we're still being patient about it. But I agree we've got to get on with this.

HOWSON: But on on the one hand you're saying we need to, we need to live with COVID, we need to just get on with it. But on the other the, it's the Federal Government and the state governments that are both responsible, is it not, for the fact that there is no cruising?

PRIME MINISTER: We're ready to move. We're ready to move.

HOWSON: Alright. It's in the, it's in the hands of the state. Just just finally, tomorrow you're announcing, I think, this reverse mortgage scheme in the mid-year Budget update, a cash access scheme for pensioners. How will that work?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've had a pension loan scheme for some time, but this is making it even more attractive by reducing the interest rate. And what it means is that - and it's not just pensioners, it's pension age, so self-funded retirees, others, you don't have to be on the pension to to access this - but this enables them to draw on the equity in their own home through a Government scheme. I I know many pensioners in particular, as I was Treasurer when we first started opening up this scheme and making it more attractive, are concerned about going into reverse mortgages with banks and those sorts of things. I understand those concerns. There's some good products there, but what this does is provides another what would be considered a safe alternative for them to be able to access the equity in their own home to improve their incomes and their living standards in their retirement years. It just gives them another tool to be able to have a better quality of life in their retirement and using that equity in their own home to be able to achieve. Now, it's a choice. It's an option for them and it's there to give people that opportunity. And it's been made more attractive in MYEFO to ensure people can have that opportunity and another thing to consider.

HOWSON: Prime Minister Scott Morrison, thanks for being on 4BC Breakfast this morning.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, looking forward to being in Brisbane. All the best.

HOWSON: Good on you.

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