TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW ON THE TODAY SHOW, 18 November 2020

8:08AM

E&OE

Subjects: Coronavirus, Border Closures;

KARL STEFANOVIC

Let's bring in Acting PM Michael McCormack now, live in Wagga Wagga, thank you for your time, we really appreciate it.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Pleasure, Karl.

KARL STEFANOVIC

This is a real worry, the way this is escalating in South Australia right now.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, South Australia's public health response has been very swift and very robust, Karl. I've spoken to Premier Steven Marshall. He assures me that the 20 cases, they've certainly got those people with the best medical care available. They have done thousands upon thousands of tests in recent just days, they have upped the ante in that record and hopefully they have isolated this outbreak. There are going to be outbreaks, Karl, but when you compare what Australia has done for many, many months – just in the United States of America last Wednesday there were 200,000 cases – so I don't think we need any kneejerk reactions from states, from anyone. I appreciate that this is unfortunate. I appreciate that Victoria had an outbreak that then got out of hand. But I'm assured that the public health response has been very good, very rapid and very robust in South Australia.

KARL STEFANOVIC

Okay, the Australian Medical Association this morning says it wants the Coalition to abandon the final step of its reopening framework. How is their advice so different to yours?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

We will take the best medical advice. We've listened to Professor Paul Kelly. We have listened to Professor Brendan Murphy all the way through. Yes, there will always be even doctors who have different opinions than other doctors. There will be different medical organisations that will have different opinions from other medical organisations. We will take the medical advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, that is what we have done all the way through. We have had 907 deaths and we mourn for those families who have lost love ones but compare Australia's record with this health outbreak – and it's a global health pandemic – to any other country in the world and we have done remarkably well, Karl, and we will go on doing remarkably well.

KARL STEFANOVIC

Go on.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, there’s going to be 52,000 fit and healthy Queenslanders in a sports stadium tonight that is the largest crowd for any football game this year. The Everest crowd at Randwick was the biggest racing crowd. You don't get that without having good national medical response and you don’t get that without good frontline medical professionals doing their job that they have done for and on behalf of Australians and I thank Australians for the job that they have done, Karl. They have been magnificent. They have followed the advice, they have quarantined, they have got tested, they have done everything that they have needed to do and we thank Australians but we say don't get complacent now. We're leading into Christmas and we need families to be reunited –

KARL STEFANOVIC

[Interrupts] I'm running out of time. Look, WA is not doing that, we know Queensland is not doing that. Industry leaders are saying the federation is falling apart as borders close on South Australia. How is this not a national co-ordinated response now? The states are just doing their own thing – or some of them.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

The states have made decisions for and on behalf of their states right the way through and yet National Cabinet has worked well, Karl. It has worked well. We are working with four individual potential vaccines that hopefully will become available following rigorous testing next year. That will be freely available to everyone in us Australia, to everyone in the Pacific area, thanks to the Commonwealth Government. We have back-ended the economy with billions of dollars of support. What we need now is, we do need businesses to reopen. We do need Australians to get back to work and we do need those borders to be open.

KARL STEFANOVIC

Acting Prime Minister, thank you for your time today, we will talk to you again soon in coming weeks.

Shane Manning