TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW ON FIRST EDITION, SKY NEWS, 24 August 2020
E&OE
Subjects: JobKeeper, JobSeeker, Coronavirus, Aged Care, 60 Minutes story;
PETER STEFANOVIC
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, good to see you. Thanks so much for joining us Michael. First of all, a very strange week in Canberra.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
A pleasure. Well, it will be indeed and of course people will be able to zoom in on telelink to Parliamentary proceedings and make their contributions via that mechanism. Of course, we're walking around the halls of Parliament with face masks on and look, it's important that we're back and we’ve got some important work to do. The JobKeeper and JobSeeker legislation, of course there’s other important legislation going before the House – veterans and lots of things. But what we're doing is we’re in there supporting Australians, whether they're facing border issues, whether they're in lockdown in Melbourne, whether they've lost their job or looking for one. To see Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that 700,000 of those who did lose their jobs earlier in the year have now been re-engaged with work, with the workforce. So these are important things and of course, aged care, all these sorts of things we're addressing, we're making sure that we're on top of everything.
PETER STEFANOVIC
Well, just on a couple of points that you raised there, given that Victoria is now heading back to, you know, the levels seen during the peak pandemic period, is it too soon to be winding back JobKeeper and JobSeeker?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, it's making sure that we give the right support to the economy, what we've done and I've given up counting the number of people who've actually approached me and said but for JobKeeper, they wouldn't have been able to keep their doors to their business open. They wouldn't have been able to have a future. And so that's critically important. So that's why we are extending the support. That's why we've already put on the table more than $100 billion of support in that regard for those measures and an overall $314 billion. We've made sure that we have linked people to business to keep their doors open. This is a pandemic that we've not seen for 100 years and indeed, there's no manual which you can pull down off the shelf to say, what do we do next. But we've provided the right economic support, we've provided the right health assistance and we just need to of course, keep addressing issues as they arise.
PETER STEFANOVIC
I get the extension but I know that Labor is going to be on your back about it this week. It's all about whether it should be wound back, whether JobKeeper and JobSeeker should be wound back from the end of next month. Do you concede that perhaps maybe it's too soon to be doing that.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
We're looking at all these things and we're making sure that we provide the right economic support, of course Labor is going to come out – whatever we do – and they'll say what we should be doing –
PETER STEFANOVIC
When you say we're looking at all these things, what do you mean? Are you suggesting that you might be open to that?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
What we're doing is we're making sure that whether it's JobKeeper, whether it's JobSeeker, whether it's HomeBuilder, whether it's JobMaker, whatever the critical element of the economic support is, we're giving the right support at the right time. We're making sure that we back in the economy because so many people have lost their jobs. That said, I have to say there are jobs in regional Australia and anybody who wants to be properly engaged with the workforce. There are jobs in agriculture, mining, regional Australia per se, they are crying out for chefs, they're crying out for people to do all of any number of jobs in regional Australia. And so I'll have to say, regional Australia has helped support the Australian economy through this global downturn. Regional Australia has been its best self and the fact that, you know, whilst Australians have generally been compliant and done the right thing, certainly in regional Australia, the COVID cases are very, very low.
PETER STEFANOVIC
When it comes to borders, we've seen the evidence today and Josh Frydenberg on the show a little bit earlier pointed to the fact that New South Wales is very much leading the recovery. Queensland isn't though, I mean, for example, it's unemployment rate is 11.4%, which is still significant. So in that sense, is that something that you hope would convince the Premier to open the borders?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Indeed, they do need to look at these sorts of things because we can't just keep our borders shut forever and a day. It's affecting the airline industry. It's affecting those businesses on the Tweed. It's affecting farmers who have land either side of the Queensland border, indeed either side of any border. So that's why we've made sure that we have agriculture protocols in place to ensure freedom of movement, just like we did with the transport sector many, many weeks ago. We've provided that access over the border. Annastacia Palaszczuk didn't do herself any favours last week by talking about Queensland hospitals being only for Queenslanders. We're all in this together. We have to be in this together. And if you're a family on the New South Wales border, relying on medical services over the other side of that border, then you should be able to access them. No matter whether you're a Queenslander or whether you're in New South Wales, it doesn't matter who you support in the State of Origin. We are all Australians and we are all in this together. It shouldn’t be political.
PETER STEFANOVIC
She said today that she's not going to bow to anyone, including Alan Joyce. I mean, what's your thoughts on that? I mean, when do you open those borders, Christmas isn't far away and she's doing it to protect her people, which is fine, but there's going to come a point –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
She's also doing it because she's got an October 31 election, I have to say, look we need to make sure that if we can and I appreciate it's the remit of the Premiers, I appreciate it's the remit of the States. We should, if at all possible, ease those border restrictions but make it certainly easier, through the best health medical advice to get those farmers across, to get the trucks through and to ease the border restrictions as much as possible to allow business to continue. You can't just put a wrecking ball through your State's economy and then expect everything to be right out the other side. Yes, I appreciate health has to be number one. It always has been, always will be. I appreciate she's made those moves because of the health situation. But there has to be a time when Premiers look at their borders and say, well, enough is enough. The numbers are so low that we should be able to ease those border restrictions, allow business to be what it is and make sure that we continue to quarantine where necessary, isolate where necessary. And if people haven't already downloaded the COVIDSafe app in Queensland or wherever else, I urge and encourage them to do just that.
PETER STEFANOVIC
You brought up aged care, is Richard Colbeck the right person to lead aged care?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
He's been working night and day and I know we've spent $171.5 million additionally just last week, absolutely necessary. We've put a surge workforce in place to make sure that we address those critical issues in the aged care sector. Yes, they’re our most vulnerable and we need to protect them. And that's why we have certainly upped the ante as far as making sure that we address the issues in aged care centres, of course there is more than 430 of them in Melbourne alone. And we need to make sure that for our most vulnerable who are disproportionately affected sadly, whether it's Australia or wherever else in the world by COVID, which is very, very highly contagious and so we'll do everything that we can to continue to support the sector. And Richard Colbeck will continue to do the job. As he has been doing night and day to support aged care.
PETER STEFANOVIC
He didn't help himself last week though did he when he couldn't answer some pretty basic questions?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, everybody forgets a figure, no one's perfect. We're all human and there's no manual for this. You can't just pull a manual off the shelf and say, what do we do next to support health? What do we do next to support the economy? He has been working night and day and I know we'll continue to do so. That's the measure of the man. I've got every faith in Richard Colbeck.
PETER STEFANOVIC
Just finally, I just want to get your thoughts on these claims from 60 Minutes last night, the allegations of branch stalking involving the Victorian Liberal Party, what do you make of them?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, I didn't see the actual program because I was driving over from Wagga Wagga from Canberra. But these are a matter for the Victorian Liberal division. I’m the Leader of the National Party, but I know that Kevin Andrews and Michael Sukkar have reported some of those allegations raised to the Department of Finance, which is the correct thing to do. I know both of them have also made statements denying the allegations levelled against them – I'll leave it at that.
PETER STEFANOVIC
Doesn't this just show that, you know, the Victorian Liberal Party’s just as dirty as the Labor Party when it comes to that grassroots and branch level?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
I don’t think people want to be thinking that politicians are talking about themselves at this point in time. They want to make sure that the people are thinking about the politicians and thinking about their jobs, their health, their outcomes as far as the future is concerned and that's what the Federal Government's doing.
PETER STEFANOVIC
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, I appreciate your time. Thanks so much for joining us.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Anytime, thank you.