TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW ON THE BOLT REPORT, SKY NEWS, 28 July 2020

E&OE

Subjects: Sydney Protests, Coronavirus;

ANDREW BOLT

Joining me is the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Deputy Prime Minister, thank you so much indeed for being on the show, I appreciate it. Firstly, I want to go back to the Black Lives Matter protests. No political leader has yet said no, David Dungay was not murdered. No, our Police force does not murder Aborigines and, no, Aborigines in jail are not more likely than whites to die there. This Black Lives Matter movement here is based on falsehoods, what do you say?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, you probably haven't been reading all of my transcripts, Andrew. Because I have stuck up steadfastly for the Police. They do a wonderful job and when we have an incident or a disaster, the New South Wales Police – any State Police – well they run to the emergency. Whereas other people, the likes of Paddy Gibson, etc, they run completely the other way. Our Police do a wonderful job. To have the Left call for the Police Force to be defunded is just ridiculous. I've seen so many commentators actually call for the Police to be defunded. Well, how stupid is that? Now, the Police do a wonderful job. They are under great pressure and certainly I know that during some of these protests, the protesters actually goad the Police, they video the Police and try to get some sort of reaction. Whereas the Police are just there doing their job, safeguarding society as they always do.

ANDREW BOLT

Good stuff. To Victoria, the Premier is saying, not his fault. These aged care homes, they were federally funded and he wouldn't send his Mum to some of them. And now he's going to have to step in and help you guys sort out this terrible mess. Did the Morrison Government stuff up?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

I know that Greg Hunt has today set up what really is a SWAT team, a taskforce. A response centre to ensure that everything is as it should be. But right the way through we have been making sure that everything that we've provided at a Commonwealth level, help for states and protection for people has been what it should be. Greg Hunt is right. When he said that the staff in these facilities are doing a great job because they do, every day, every night. And look that's why we have got an Aged Care Royal Commission. We are looking into this whole industry, this whole sector of society. We want to make sure that those most vulnerable members of our society who have contributed so much to their communities are looked at, looked for, looked after in the twilight of their lives. We want to make sure that our aged care facilities are what they should be and that's why, to make sure that we go to that nth degree Minister Hunt has set up that response centre today. We will do everything that we can to ensure that our aged care facilities are what they should be. And indeed, we provide the Victorian Government and indeed the State with the services and support it needs in this time of crisis.

ANDREW BOLT

But you mentioned the SWAT team that was set up yesterday, we've known for six months that this is a virus that kills predominantly the elderly. We've known for 3-4 months that it rips through nursing homes, has done overseas in Europe and in America, in New York in particular and also in Sydney. Are you disappointed that it's only the last few weeks that the Morrison Government and the State of Victoria has cracked down on visitors to these homes here demanded that masks be worn inside these homes, stepped up testing, moved to stop staff from working across several homes at once. Why only in the last two weeks?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Andrew, we've had the appropriate measures in place and we certainly have had those through the National Cabinet process, restricting visitation numbers to aged care centres, making sure that we've provided the right personal protection equipment, the right masks and putting in the right protocols and we've done that through the National Cabinet process. We didn't –

ANDREW BOLT

That's what I'm saying in the last two weeks is when you've had –

MICHAEL McCORMACK

No, this has been going for many, many months. We've had the visitor restriction numbers. We've had all of those things in place through the National Cabinet process, months ago. We've had that in place. Of course, we didn't expect to have this outbreak, which was caused by –

ANDREW BOLT

It was only two weeks ago that you said masks were obligatory for staff. It's only in the last week or so that visitors have been told you've got a mask up. I mean, I showed a number of press releases from the Government just in the last two weeks of stepping all this up.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

We were taking the right advice from the expert medical team from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee. We've taken the right advice from that Committee right the way through. And up until probably the last couple of weeks, Andrew, we've done very, very well. We'll still even despite the 384 cases and sadly the six deaths today, on a world scale, we've still done very, very well. But we need Australians to be their best selves. We thank them for what they've done so far, but we still need them to download the COVIDSafe app. We still need them to if they are in quarantine then do the right thing. And if they have been asked to self-isolate, well for God sake, do it. It's not that hard to protect yourself and more over protect our vulnerable members of our community. People you may not even know but you have to care for them. You have to care for your community. So if you've been asked to do something, then for goodness sake do it.

ANDREW BOLT

And just finally, you heard there Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria, shoving the blame on the Feds. You in turn must be extremely frustrated with the Andrews Government, its handling of this, how the virus got out?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, I think we're all disappointed that there's been this outbreak in Victoria but I'm not going to continue the blame game. What we need to do now is work together collaboratively and co-operatively to make sure that we contain and minimise this outbreak and get through it. Get the borders reopen because let me tell you for seasonal workers, for people trying to, particularly in regional Australia, to get on with their lives, this has been a huge setback.

ANDREW BOLT

It sure has. Michael McCormack, thank you so much for joining me.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Anytime at all, Andrew.

Shane Manning