TRANSCRIPT: SBS NEWS INTERVIEW, 17 April 2020

E&OE

Subjects: Coronavirus, Regional Australia, Temporary Visa Holders, Regional Media;

BRETT MASON:

Deputy Prime Minister, welcome back to SBS.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Thanks, Brett.

BRETT MASON:

There's a sort of cruel timing about this whole COVID-19 pandemic in the sense that regional Australians were just beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel of these bushfires and drought. What are some of the unique challenges that rural Australians are facing in this crisis?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

It was a light, it was a small speck, a glimmer of hope and it turned out to be a COVID-19 express and it's hit regional Australia and it's hit regional Australia hard. That said, yes, there have been some deaths from COVID-19 and we mourn for those people. There's been one up in the Coffs Harbour area, Port Macquarie area, there's been one at Orange and one at Albury but that's been about it. Of course, the other 60 have all be in metropolitan Australia. We mourn for those 63 families who have lost loved ones but you're right, after the drought and the drought's not over yet by any stretch of the imagination, after the bushfires, and they're not over yet either, because, of course, they're still recovering from that summer of hell that we had and now this.

But regional Australians are resilient people, as you know, coming from Batemans Bay, they are very resilient and they will get through this as they always do. Yes, it might be, you know, Australia will be different, it will be a changed country from this but the same values, the same principles will still apply.

BRETT MASON:

There's been some rain. How big a difference –

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Thank goodness for that.

BRETT MASON:

How big a difference does that make in some of these communities?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Just the optimism, the confidence, the psychology of regional Australians, whether they're on the farm, on the land or in the cities. Everybody benefits when it rains. It's just that feeling of optimism that rain brings and of course, having green grass on the ground makes such a difference. I was talking to Ken Keith, the mayor of Parkes the other day, he's got a few thousand ewes and he said last year they dropped lambs on to brown earth. This year they dropped it onto green grass and he said it makes such a difference for his activities on the farm. For Parkes in general, you know, they're buoyed by it. They've already got the Inland Rail coming through but this is just going to make such a huge world of difference for them.

BRETT MASON:

And rural communities are really playing a critical role in responding to this crisis while everyone in the city is just stocking up on food. There's empty supermarket shelves. It's actually regional Australians who are refilling those shelves. How important is it to get those supply chains sorted out and get those shelves full again?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, it's critical. I've been working very closely with the State and Territory Transport and Infrastructure Ministers to make sure that where the borders are shut, to make sure there's minimal disruption as trucks go through those checkpoints. I've been told at the Queensland New South Wales border, it's only about a four-minute turnaround. So the truckies virtually pull up, show their papers and off they go. Of course, all the trucks are being literally waved through. That's good and that's happening right across Australia. So we've been able to do that. We've been able to reopen those truck stops, those rest stops that they need when they were first shut because of the new rules that had been put into place.

So as far as that's concerned, it has been good and of course, as you say, regional Australians feed the rest of Australia and many others besides. There's no problem with food security. David Littleproud, the Agriculture Minister, has said that time and again. 75 million people Australian farmers feed. That's three times our own population so we can feed all of Australia and 50 other million people besides and we're doing that and we do that every year, no matter what the conditions are, we also manage to come through. Our farmers are the best in the world and that's been a real focus of the COVID-19. There has been an emphasis on our farmers and on our regional Australians to be their best selves and they have been.

BRETT MASON:

We've seen big supply chain issues in other countries, the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom. Although we've had certain products sell out here, by and large we haven't seen those sorts of issues to the same scale. What's been different here to other countries, do you think, in terms of keeping those supply chains open?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Australians' hard work ethic and mateship. They've been there, they've been supporting others and I think when Australians were asked not to hoard, they've actually been doing that by and large and certainly they have been in the regions. Yes, we have seen some bad examples of people raiding supermarkets and people coming in and indeed, raiding supermarkets at places such as Batlow and Tumbarumba where they've been badly hit by fires. But by and large Australians have been good. They've stayed at home when they were asked to over Easter. Yes, there have been people who have not done the right thing and that's disappointing but that's just human nature. But essentially Australians have been very good and we thank them for that and that's the reason why we've had 63 deaths and in countries overseas they've had many more and that's tragic.

BRETT MASON:

The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader effectively told temporary visa holders that they should consider going home. A lot of them have. But in regional communities – we were in Batlow last week, there were more apples and not enough people to pick them, how crucial is the seasonal worker trade in regional Australia? I mean these are not people that are necessarily here, you know, taking from the Australian economy, they're actually really contributing to it?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

And notwithstanding the fact that there are many people who are now unemployed as a result of COVID-19 and I appreciate that for them JobSeeker is so important and many of them who have not had to rely on welfare before are having to do so. But there are also many jobs, I've also said it, in regional Australia and this has just proven the point. There are many jobs in regional Australia and even though we're going through COVID-19, even though so many more people are on unemployment benefits, although the statistics yesterday were quite pleasing, the March figures only jumped up 0.1%, the fact is there are jobs there. There is fruit to pick and many of those seasonal workers are doing just that and we've changed the rules so that we've given them a six-month extension. That's been really important, and so we want our farmers to have their fruit picked, their crops sown and their meat processing to continue as per normal because if ever we need food, it's right now while we're locked up at home and, you know, waiting out this virus.

BRETT MASON:

But as you say, there are a lot of jobs there, there's a lot of people that –

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Always have been.

BRETT MASON:

– are looking for work but they're not willing to do it. We're actually relying on foreign visitors who feel as though they've kind of been made to feel a little unwelcome, frankly, during this crisis.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

No, I disagree with that and look, I think the Prime Minister was right. Every leader of every nation was saying to people please go home because that's the best place for you and had there been and look, we're not out of the woods yet but had there been, you know, huge outbreaks in regional Australia, particularly remote areas where the health facilities just aren't what they are in the cities, that was going to prove very difficult, particularly if, you know, there were a number of seasonal workers who were working in orchards or the like, to actually be able to make sure that we got them better and so, you know, the Prime Minister was quite correct in asking people if they didn't have reason to stay in Australia and they did have a home to go to, please go there.

And so for those seasonal workers who are looking – are on temporary visas, that we've changed the rules slightly. So long as they self-isolate and they've proved that they've done so, so long as they stay with the one employer, you know, that is going to be a difference for regional communities who need their fruit picked more than ever before, who need their crops sown because as you say, there's been rain, there's an optimism in regional Australia that wasn't there perhaps six months ago and we need to get on with it job.

BRETT MASON:

We've seen some incidences of racism where particularly members of the Chinese community have been attacked verbally, sometimes physically, are you alarmed by some of those scenes?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

I'm alarmed by them at any time, any time at all. Racism doesn't belong in Australia. And look, I come from Wagga Wagga. We fly more than 100 flags on Australia Day. Griffith, it's the multicultural capital of Australia, always has been, always will be. It's an area where so many people come from all four corners of the world and live in harmony with one another, love their town, very, very passionate about their water and their town and everything that Griffith represents and good on them for that. Australia's a very welcoming place. There's no place for racism anywhere in Australia. Not now during COVID-19, not before and not any time in the future.

BRETT MASON:

Just on –

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Unacceptable.

BRETT MASON:

Just on Wagga, the city council moved this week to suspend its sister city relationships with cities in China. Was that a bad call?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Absolutely. And for companies like Bee Dee Bags, which actually has a factory in China, for the CSU students out at North Wagga, the campus there which does such a great job for international relations, what message does that send them, and I've spoken to the Mayor about this. That will be rescinded, I'm sure.

BRETT MASON:

What did you say to the Mayor?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

I just said it was a wrong move. We've had a sister-city relationship with Kunming in China since 1988. It's been welcome. We've had people go from Australia to Kunming, we've welcomed visitors from that city to our fine city and it was the wrong move. The Councillor who had the casting vote, they drew the name out of a hat for him to have the casting vote because the Mayor was absent and he was ill, missed the meeting. There were two Councillors who had a perceived conflict of interest so they didn't vote. So obviously there's business relationships at a very close level in the council with Kunming. You know, just, look, ill-thought out, not the right decision, I'm sure Wagga Wagga City Council, it's having an extraordinary meeting and it will overturn that and rightly so.

BRETT MASON:

Just on manufacturing, we've spoken to quite a few companies that have made the transition from automotive to medical supplies. Their plea with Government is ‘make Australia make again’. There is a sense that Australia isn't making as much stuff as it used to and that perhaps it should. Would you like to see a resurgence of Australian manufacturing as one of the outcomes of this crisis?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Look, absolutely and out of every crisis there are good things which happen as a result and I know the Industry Minister, Karen Andrews, is very focused on doing just that. I know I've had talks with Keith Pitt who is the Resources Minister every day about what we can do to even enhance manufacturing, what we can do in that space. I know the Small Business Minister, Michaelia Cash, she's talking about re-energising our apprentices and re-energising business. We need to get more manufacturing in Australia and I think if COVID-19 has proven anything, it's very much that.

BRETT MASON:

A lot of the manufacturers say that there isn't a market, we're simply importing too much, we're not investing in the manufacturing sector. Why has manufacturing fallen away in Australia?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

We've got a high-wage economy and so when you have a high-wage economy and people are needing tools and needing gidgets and gadgets to help them in their industries and in their factories, etcetera, sometimes it's a cheaper option to get them in from overseas and I understand that. I understand having run a small business for ten or so years, you need to make sure you get your costs down as much as possible so that you make more money and that helps everyone. And so I get that.

But we also have great ingenuity in Australia. We have people with great inventive minds, we've got factories and products able to be made and to be constructed and established and we're doing just that. We're doing it very much in the defence industry space and I know that Llew O'Brien and Keith Pitt in particular are delighted that in their areas we've been able to re-energise some of the manufacturing to decrease some of the high youth unemployment that their areas have endured for way too long and to help get regional Australia tapping into that huge multibillion dollar defence industry space has been important for them. Car manufacturing, unfortunately, has gone. So we need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, and to look elsewhere at what we can do and we're doing just that as a government and I know there's been a real focus on that.

BRETT MASON:

Just finally, a former newspaper editor yourself, we've seen a lot of regional publications close their doors, turn off the presses in recent weeks. A lot of them, let's be frank, probably won't reopen. How difficult is that in regional communities where, you know, the bush telegraph is pretty reliable but it only stretches so far?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

The old Parish Pump is reliable and many of those weekly papers and biweekly papers, they do print that Parish Pump's material. You know, Aunt Edna has been elected the president of the local church flower show. You know, those sorts of things are pretty important to those little towns.

I know that Paul Fletcher and I have been working hard to get that innovation fund money brought forward. We've put $13 million towards the $37 million that we had, so we've got a $50 million program. We want newspapers to operate as they were previously. Yeah, times have changed and a lot more people are reading their news on the iPad but in country centres, the local newspaper is still pretty important. Whether it's a local daily or the little weekly publication that comes out.

Also regional television, so critical. I want to see, when I go out and do a press conference in Wagga Wagga or wherever the case may be, Forbes, Parkes, Junee, I'd like to see local cameras there, talking about local events and bringing that news to local people. SBS, of course, plays a vital role, has done for many, many years and we welcome that, but we also want to see the local television networks have their own news bulletin about local people, about local events and be producing it and distributing it to other local people and so that's why we'll back that local journalism in every day of the week.

BRETT MASON:

Now more than ever, those publications are really important to keep communities informed particularly.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Oh they are, absolutely. And that's why I've made sure that the advertising that the Government has put out goes not only to the major dailies but also to the little papers. I've made sure that, you know, I've been on the phone to the little publications and seeing how they're fairing. I don't want to see any journalists out of work, none of us do, but they don't always write the things we would like them to. I don't have that control anymore now that I'm not in the newsroom, but, you know, they play an important part in the fabric of our local societies, our local communities and we want to make sure that that continues. We want to see local news events not just be swamped and absorbed by, you know, national media and worse still, international media. We want to see if there's a local show or a local football match or whatever the case might be, we want to see it being advertised and being publicised in local media.

BRETT MASON:

Just finally, how are you? I've found it pretty overwhelming speaking all day to people that are in tears, they've lost their jobs, they've lost their houses.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

It's tough.

BRETT MASON:

They are visitors to Australia who can't get home, there are Australians overseas who can't get home. How are you finding the emotional impact of all of this? It's pretty taxing.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Look, it is and that's why we've partnered with Beyond Blue to make sure that that help is there for them. That's why we've put up a special hotline to help people through this crisis. That's why, you know, we encourage people to download the apps like Houseparty and all those sorts of things and communicate, you know, like never before. Pick up the phone and ask people how they are because they can't leave home and when they can't and I know there's been some special events that our family has had to forego, birthday parties and a special graduation for our son Nicholas, you know, those sorts of events, which would have been milestones in our family, that we've had to look on from afar and admire the photos and that was about it.

But, you know, every family has had to endure a changed world and the important thing is we get through this without too many casualties. The important thing is we keep businesses as much as we can open, people in jobs and we save lives. And I think Australians will forego a few of the little luxuries in life that we're used to, to forego a few of those things that we take for granted, just hugging our loved ones who mightn't live at home and not even seeing them because they're not allowed to come around to home. I think if we get through this and we have, you know, limited casualties, I think that will be a good thing and I think later on we'll be judged very well for it. I think people will look back and say the Government did the right thing. They closed the borders early, they saved lives, they protected the economy as best they could. Yes, they spent a bit of money doing it but it was worth the exercise.

BRETT MASON:

Michael McCormack, thanks very much.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Pleasure. Any time at all.