TRANSCRIPT: TRIPLE M NATIONAL NETWORK INTERVIEW, 25 March 2020
E&OE
Subjects: Coronavirus;
LEIGH RYAN:
And going straight to the phone because on the line at the moment the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Member for the Riverina, Michael McCormack joins us. Good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Good morning, Leigh, although it's not a very good morning, really, after last night's press conference and many listeners would have seen the Prime Minister speaking very, very sombrely and worriedly about the situation as it's unfolding with coronavirus and new restrictions have been put in place from midnight tonight and you're obviously all over them and thank you for the role that Triple M have been doing.
But we've got new restrictions on all sorts of things, including funerals being limited to no more than ten people and weddings being able to continue but so long as they're conducted where it's just the couple, the celebrant and two witnesses – no more than five people. So they're worrying times and these restrictions have been put into place to ensure that social distancing takes place because the number of cases, I was just talking to Poppy before going live and the number of cases are just going up by hundreds each day. We've got more than 2,100 cases across Australia now and sadly eight deaths.
POPPY PENNY:
Now, it's not even 9:00AM yet and you've been in meetings all morning this morning. Is there anything you can tell us that's new this morning?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
What's new this morning is the fact that auctions and open house inspections are now banned. Outdoor and indoor markets are banned with rules around major food markets are being addressed by States and Territories. Personal services such as beauty therapy, tattoo parlours but not health‑related physiotherapy, they're banned. Hairdressers and barbers are continuing but must strictly manage the number of people that they have in their shop at any one time. Of course, we need to obey that four square metre rule, one person per four square metres. Amusement parks and arcades and indoor and outdoor play centres, they have to close from midnight tonight. Boot camps and personal training must be limited to ten people.
These are very tight restrictions, Poppy and Leigh and they are necessary. We have to minimise and contain the virus as best we can and whilst I appreciate that many people, particularly in our region, might still be a little bit complacent, if they're not realising that this is serious, even though things are even a little bit quieter but they look like they're continuing as normal, the new normal in a few weeks when the virus spreads even further, if we don't contain it, is going to be quite diabolical.
LEIGH RYAN:
Michael, we saw yesterday huge queues and particularly in and around the metropolitan areas around Centrelink offices. We heard about the MyGov website having hundreds of thousands of people trying to access that. What is being done for people who are being put out of work by these new measures.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, of course there's all sorts of financial assistance for those people and I would urge and encourage them to go to Australia.gov.au. It's a website that's been up for a while but everything relating to the coronavirus, both health and any economic implications are on that Australia.gov.au. Access that, have a look to see what you're eligible for. For those people who are out of work, there's a doubling of the Newstart, there are financial incentives there for people if they need to access their superannuation for certain people they can do that. This is an unprecedented step. There are many measures there for them. So if they want to know what's available, I can't stress it enough, Australia.gov.au.
But for those people who, yes, are on call lines and that, just be patient. We're putting 5,000 more people into those social and human services departments and any people who have lost their jobs, they might like to see if they can access actually some work there and I appreciate that it's very, very tough. People can't even start to understand what it would be like to lose your job and to be faced with the prospect of a winter without work.
There is hope. There is that eligibility for them to get money. We've put $189 billion of assistance out into the economy to help those people through, to help Australians through, but we just need to be our best selves to make sure that we practice that social responsibility, that social distancing and together we'll get through this.
POPPY PENNY:
This is a really fast‑moving beast. We're seeing things sort of change honestly by the hour and it's just something I don't think we've seen in a very long time. The word "unprecedented" is being bandied around left, right and centre but it really is. Can we expect more closures and restrictions in the coming days?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Potentially. So we'll just have to see how it goes and of course, the States have their own sovereignty over their own States. It could well come down to the fact that there's not only lockdowns by State and I know a number of the States have already closed their borders, but it could even come down to regions. I know that for some events and for some things they're actually restricting it to just regions such as horse racing, for instance. The only horses running around Wagga Wagga at the moment will be horses from the southern districts. So that's also very, very much unprecedented.
At the moment, there are still events under certain rules that are still going ahead but they have to follow the strict rules of social distancing and people need to do that too, who might be queuing up outside Centrelink, they need to practice that social distancing because we have to restrict this as much as possible. It's tough. Yes, you're right, it is unprecedented.
Nobody alive would have remembered the Spanish influenza of 1918 and it claimed 12,000 Australian lives. We don't want a repeat of that. We want to make sure that this nation gets through it as best we can. We're resilient people, we're hardy people and particularly out here in the regions we're the toughest stock there is. But it's going to test our mettle over the next few weeks and months.
LEIGH RYAN:
Michael, is there any indication on how long these measures will be in place because at the moment, at the start of this Scott Morrison said that any measures that were brought in would have to be in for at least six months. Now is that still the Government's position or is there advice that it will be a shorter or longer time than that?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, we'll obviously keep taking the advice of the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Brendan Murphy, who, I have to say, is doing a magnificent job but it looks as though it will be six months. The financial assistance that has been put on the table is mostly geared around six months but if it needs to be longer, it will be longer, just like the restrictions, if they have to be longer, of course, they will be. And if all goes according to plan and who knows, something miraculous occurs and the numbers come down dramatically and it looks as though the virus fears and things have passed, then who knows? It may well be reduced to four months or something. But at the moment, most of the restrictions and most of these things have been put in place for the here and now and we're monitoring it, not by day, but by hour.
This is a very fluid event. It's moving along all the time. I know that Scott Morrison and the Premiers and the Chief Ministers are meeting every night. I'm in meetings every day via teleconference with the Cabinet, with the National Security Council. We're meeting all the time and we will get through this. We'll put in place the restrictions that Dr Brendan Murphy feels as though is responsible and necessary to get Australia through this with minimal, minimal health impacts.
POPPY PENNY:
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, thank you so much for keeping us up to date this morning and we hope we keep in touch across what is a very fast‑moving problem.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Talk again soon. Thanks, Poppy. Thanks, Leigh.
LEIGH RYAN:
Not a problem. Michael McCormack, Deputy Prime Minister and Member for the Riverina.