TRANSCRIPT: WAGGA WAGGA PRESS CONFERENCE, 30 April 2020
E&OE
Subjects: Rainfall, COVIDSafe App, Wagga Wagga Gold Cup, Eden-Monaro by-election;
MICHAEL MCCORMACK
I wanted to firstly say how great the rain is. We have had drenching, soaking rain at long last, right throughout the region. And this follows on from other good falls in recent months and it changes the psychology – not just for those who need to till their soil and grow the crops that have made the Riverina so famous – but also just people who don’t necessarily rely on agriculture for an income but for a city the size of Wagga Wagga and every country town right throughout the Riverina, south-west New South Wales and elsewhere, we need this drenching rain. It makes such a difference to our region and it’s very, very welcome.
I also want to make – absolutely, absolutely – an appeal to download the COVIDSafe app. It is so important that people download this application onto their phones. It’s really simple. It takes just one or two minutes. Get on your phone, go to the app store and download the app. It could save your life. It could save a member of your family’s life. It could save the life of somebody you don’t even know. There is no geolocation tracing, the information is encrypted and stored in an Australian safe place. It can only be accessed by health authorities and if it just means one or two minutes of you downloading an app that could save your life – it’s well worth doing. 3.31 million Australians have done it. Congratulations to them. They are protecting their lives, they are saving livelihoods.
I want to also thank Australians by and large for making sure our COVID-19 numbers are the best in the world. Of course, for those 90 or so Australian families who have lost a loved one, that is a tragedy for them and again, our sympathies and condolences go out to them. But when you compare the Australian death rates, compare the Australian case rates to those being experienced overseas, it just goes to show how well Australians have complied with the requests made by the Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy and other medical officers around the nation. I want to particularly also thank, at a local level, Jill Ludford and the way she has led the Murrumbidgee Health District. We’ve had 45 cases and sadly, one death. 39 cases of those have recovered and it shows that with social distancing, with people staying at home, particularly at ANZAC Day when it must have been difficult for veterans and others not to want to go to a public march or even to just go down to the Cenotaph and lay a wreath. Most people stayed at home and did the right thing and that is commendable. Of course, tomorrow we have the Wagga Wagga Gold Cup, first run in 1873. This will be the first time in the Cup's history there won't be a crowd present at the Murrumbidgee Turf Club. I know that will be difficult for punters, too. Of course, they can watch online and do all of the sort of things they normally do to get their bets on and to watch the races, but Wagga Wagga Gold Cup week is one of the biggest weeks for Wagga’s social and sporting fortunes and certainly for our businesses, it is their biggest week. For our motels, for our accommodation places and for our places which serve the great hospitality that we are always used to, Wagga Wagga Cup Week is the biggest week of the year. Unfortunately, this year, the pubs are shut and cafes are only doing take-away and the Murrumbidgee Turf Club will be a very quiet and silent place tomorrow apart from the thundering hooves of the Cup field at 4:20pm, when they thunder around those 2,000 metres with nobody watching. I wish the Murrumbidgee Turf Club good luck. I wish Geoff Harrison, the President of the Murrumbidgee Turf Club good luck. It is his first Cup and there is no crowd but knowing him, he will be down there and cheering on the runners and doing his utmost to ensure the Murrumbidgee Turf Club continues the proud tradition that it has since the 1870s. I am happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST
I would like to ask you about the resignation of Mike Kelly from the seat of Eden-Monaro today. Any thoughts on that?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK
Yes, I phoned Mike Kelly and I’ve wished him all the very best. I am very good friends with Mike Kelly and I know he's made such a great contribution to Australian life. Not just in his military career, rising to the rank of colonel, but also in his 10 years as a parliamentarian. He has served the people of southern New South Wales very, very well and during the bushfire crisis, the summer of hell that we had, that we endured, he was unable to on many occasions to get out and about to visit those areas of his electorate in the Riverina area – I am talking about Batlow and Tumbarumba specifically – so I went up there and represented him and represented the Australian Government and made it clear this was above politics. Mike and I have always done things above politics. We might be philosophically opposed at times in Question Time, but we are good mates. I wish him all the very best. I know that he has undergone a number of operations due to dehydration suffered in Iraq and Somalia. He's given his utmost to the Australian people, to the Australian Army and certainly when representing his constituents in southern New South Wales. I wish him and his family all the very best. I have reached out to him today and I look forward to catching up with him as soon as I can.
JOURNALIST
If John Barilaro is to enter the race for the seat of Eden-Monaro and end up in the federal party-room, would you welcome his arrival?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK
Well, of course. I would love to see another National Party face in our party room. The National Party will be contesting the seat. We will be contesting Eden-Monaro. We have never won the seat. We have never won it. It is a Federation seat. There have been 11 members of that particular electorate, but it will be up to the branches. It will be up to the Federal Electorate Council of that electorate as to whom they decide to go forward for the National Party. I appreciate Scott Morrison has talked to me about the seat – the Liberals will run. Of course, Labor will run. This is a test for Anthony Albanese. No government has taken a seat in a by-election in 100 years from the opposition. The opposition has won those by-elections. There have been 158 by-elections since Federation in 1901 and only once in Kalgoorlie in 1920 has a government won a by-election from the opposition. There is a bit of history there. A bit of history going against the Government, so this is very much a test for Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party at this by-election.
JOURNALIST
Wouldn't the entry of John Barilaro into the party room destabilise your leadership? I mean, a man who gives up being the Deputy Premier to enter federal politics is of course, going to have ambitions.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK
Well, he has got to do it yet. I know that John will discuss this with his wife, Deanna and family over the weekend. Look, if he decides to put his hand up, he's got to go through the pre-selection process. That is always the case with every National Party member. We are the most democratic party in all of Australia. The locals get to decide who is going to be their candidate. You have got to go through that process and then of course he has to go through the by-election process, which is not easy as I just said. 100 years of history is there and history has a habit of repeating itself. Let's see what happens.
JOURNALIST
So you are not worried about his entry?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK
Look, if John wants to put his hand up and run, of course I'll support him. Of course I will support him. I will support any National Party member who puts up their hand for that seat. We need a good local person to run in that seat and hopefully win that seat. John certainly is a good local candidate. I am sure there would be possibly others as well who want to put up their hand and run for that seat.
JOURNALIST
Would you have any concerns about his very differing opinions on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, for example?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK
John doesn't have very different plans for the Murray-Darling Basin. John and I agree that farmers need water. Add water, grow agriculture. Grow agriculture, grow the nation's finances. That always has been the case. Remember too, I was one of very few people who crossed the floor to oppose the Murray-Darling Basin Plan way, way back when it was first put into the Parliament and I always have supported the farmers, I have always supported the irrigators. There has to be balance in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. There has to be balance and there has to be a triple bottom-line approach and that is what I have always said and that is what I have adhered to.
JOURNALIST
Would you like to see Tumut return to the seat of Riverina because that border has moved a few times, east and west?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK
Well, that is up to the Australian Electoral Commission and we would all like to see certain things in our borders. I am happy with the electorate that I have. It is a fantastic electorate that I have. I have 12 great local government areas but that is up to the Electoral Commission. They look at those and revisit those every two terms. I appreciate another revisit of the borders is not far away but again, that is up to the Electoral Commission and they look at population and they look at all of those sort of things. They look at communities of interest and they make their determinations based on that. I love Tumut, I loved representing Tumut and Tumbarumba. I am close to Snowy Valley’s Council and I speak to James Hayes every week and I have continued to do that even though it is not in my electorate as such. Similarly with Griffith, many, many Griffith people, even though they are very well represented by Sussan Ley, because I represented the area for six years, they often call me and seek my support and advice and I am happy to give it to them. I am the Deputy Prime Minister so, in essence, I don't just represent the Riverina electorate, I represent all regional Australians and I am happy to do that.
JOURNALIST
[Inaudible phone question in relation to Kristy McBain’s possible Labor candidacy for Eden-Monaro].
MICHAEL MCCORMACK
Look, anybody who wants to put their hand up, good luck to them. I have dealt with Kristy during the bushfire crisis. That was very much above politics. Everybody put their philosophies aside and made sure that the relief and the recovery efforts were first and foremost. That’s what I’ve also done since the bushfires have long been extinguished. But, the relief and the recovery efforts go on, I know Kristy well. If she wants to put her hand up, then I wish her all the very best. To put your hand up for public life is not an easy decision to take or make and anybody who wants to do it – I wish them well.