TRANSCRIPT: TELEVISION INTERVIEW – SKY NEWS, 12 JANUARY 2021

E&OE

Subjects: Border closures; JobKeeper; hotel quarantine policies; China-Taiwan relationship.

DANICA DE GIORGIO

Returning now to our top story – border wars are back on the agenda after WA Premier Mark McGowan declared New South Wales is out of step with other states and territories in tackling the pandemic. Joining me now live is Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Acting Prime Minister, Mark McGowan claims that all states and territories bar New South Wales are pursuing an elimination strategy and that New South Wales needs to step up. We know that National Cabinet agreed to a suppression strategy but do you think the country as a whole should aim for elimination?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, it’s very difficult to have an elimination strategy when you have a global pandemic. And there will be chinks in the armour unfortunately. That is just what happens when you have a virus that is spreading around the world with the rate that this COVID-19 is. But let’s be quite frank and let’s be quite down to earth – Gladys Berejiklian and New South Wales have done a magnificent job in the tracking and the tracing and making sure that they kept their economy open but at the same time also carrying the burden of the returning Australians through their quarantining. Many West Australians – Mark McGowan needs to also remember – have come through Sydney and done their mandatory two-week quarantining and then returned to Perth and elsewhere in Western Australia. So I just, I sort of caution anyone criticising New South Wales. They’ve been the benchmark as far as COVID-19 contact tracking and tracing is concerned. And I say to the states, you know, you can look to New South Wales and say they have been a benchmark and they have been an exemplar.

DANICA DE GIORGIO

Gladys Berejiklian has said that she wanted states to consult with her before closing their borders to New South Wales three weeks ago when we saw that Northern Beaches outbreak. Should a state or territory be given a set amount of time to show it can handle an outbreak before the borders are shut?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Yeah, look, I don’t think that’s such a bad idea, because hasty decisions made at speed do have such an impact and particularly on regional economies. I was speaking to the Albury Mayor Kevin Mack this morning and, of course, he had no consultation about the new traffic light system that Victoria is looking to put into place. Now you know, there’s a lot of people wanting to go through that Albury-Wodonga area and it’s very, very difficult when you’ve got traffic banked up, hours upon hours of traffic banked up, at a place like Albury-Wodonga, the twin cities. So you know, when mayors aren’t consulted, they’ve got no idea why all of a sudden the rules have been changed. It is very difficult. It has an impact particularly on regional Australians who’ve been their best selves. I’m in tropical far north Queensland in Townsville and you know, they’ve been impacted heavily by decisions being made in Brisbane. And so for these regional areas, particularly when they’ve been largely COVID-free – they haven’t had a case for many months, if at all – and they are then impacted by the decisions made in far off capital cities. It’s so difficult for them.

DANICA DE GIORGIO

And you are in regional Australia currently on a tour, as you just mentioned. Where you are, of course, in Townsville, it’s a massive tourism economy. We know that JobKeeper ends in March, what targeted support are you going to give the tourism sector? Because it would be wrong to think that all businesses are doing okay at this time.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Yeah, look, absolutely. I’ve run a small business, I know how difficult it is for small business people to operate at the best of times let alone when they’ve got COVID-19, let alone when they’ve got a drought or recovering from bushfires or even, indeed, floods. And many of those businesses, particularly in regional Australia, are copping the lot all at once. So 2020 was a very difficult year. That’s why we put in place those assistance measures. But when Josh Frydenberg, the Treasurer, did he always said they would be temporary and they would be targeted. The assistance just can’t go on forever. And look, we will continue to consult with ACCI and with COSBOA and other peak groups. We will continue to, as I’m doing today, listening to businesses, listening to tourism operators, accommodation businesses and the like and talking to them about what assistance they will and might require in the future.

And we have put on the table hundreds of billions of dollars of assistance. But, you know, businesses just want to get back to work to some sort of pre-COVID normality. They want – they don’t want this assistance as such – they want to get back to where they somehow were, and decisions on borders will help them. And certainly consultation willing as well.

DANICA DE GIORGIO

In terms of caps on international arrivals, how isn’t it a failure that 37,000 Aussies are still trying to get home? Why hasn’t the government used our military bases and regional centres to bring them back here?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, again, quarantining is a matter for states and states have determined that the quarantining will take place in capital cities. There’s still more than 3,000 places available in capital cities and Sydney is carrying the bulk of those, half of those, in fact, right at this very point in time. Now Sydney has been magnificent. New South Wales has done more than its fair share. We’ve brought home 443,000 Australians since March 13 when Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged and encouraged, indeed, implored Australians to come home. Many Australians took that opportunity. Many did not. And we’ve also since upping the ante brought home more than 71,000 Australians since September last year.

But we can’t through the quarantining arrangements put in place by states who have jurisdictional responsibility for that, we can’t bring all Australians when they want to come home right at once. And of course, we’re also working through the airlines. There’s a fair bit to be dealing with there. We have a global pandemic. We are doing magnificently as a nation. I say to Australians, thank you for what you have done so far. I say to those returning Australians who have registered their interest with DFAT, be patient. And if you do get a ticket, if you do present yourself to the airport – we’ve had a lot cases, Danica, of Australians who have actually had a ticket and then just not presented at the airport and then prevented somebody else from being able to return home.

So look, it’s very difficult. There are Australians all over the globe, of course, wanting to come home and there are only various ports from which we can – where the airlines are operating. It is very difficult. Aviation, we’ve supported them enormously through this. Very difficult for all concerns, but we’re doing our best through DFAT through the various channels to get as many Australians home as soon as possible.

DANICA DE GIORGIO

All right. Just one more question, Acting Prime Minister. On foreign affairs, Senator Jim Molan is worried that China will move on Taiwan while America is distracted with Donald Trump and the inauguration. Do you share his concerns about China?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, of course we’ve got a very great relationship with Taiwan. We have had for a longstanding relationship – $10 billion of trade we benefit from with Taiwan through coal, iron ore, through natural gas and copper. So we want to have that relationship with Taiwan, of course, but we do have also in relation to Taiwan that One China policy. It’s a longstanding policy. I know Marise Payne has made comments about this and we certainly want Taiwan to be its best self and we’ll do whatever we can to continue our trade with Taiwan and our good relations there as well.

DANICA DE GIORGIO

Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack, appreciate your time this morning.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Thank you, Danica.

Shane Manning