TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW ON TRIPLE M RIVERINA, 4 June 2021

8:11AM

E&OE

Subjects: Coronavirus, Vaccine Roll-Out, Budget 2021;

LEIGH RYAN

It’s Triple M, Poppy and Leigh with you this morning and saying a very good morning to Deputy Prime Minister and Member for the Riverina, Michael McCormack. Hello.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Good morning, Leigh. Good morning, Poppy.

POPPY PENNY

Good morning.

LEIGH RYAN

Now, very quickly, Michael, firstly, it’s Friday, so we’ve just put you in Friday Pie Day to win yourself a box of pies from Ganmain Bakery, so good news to start off the show.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Best pies around.

POPPY PENNY

They are, indeed.

LEIGH RYAN

Mate, we have just been talking about COVID-19 and obviously, New South Wales has had a couple of spots listed as exposure sites over the last sort of 48 hours, particularly around Goulburn and around Gundagai. Vaccines have been in the firing line this week, some pretty ordinary numbers you’ve got to say, in terms of numbers of aged care workers who have been vaccinated. Paramedics also they’re saying less than half. What’s happening to get the rollout of the vaccines back on track? Because it seems to have really slowed up?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, no, I disagree. It hasn’t slowed up at all. In fact, it’s actually ramped up. I only had the DHL statistics for regional Australia – that’s the trucking company distributing them out of their western Sydney depot – they’ve actually travelled more than 19 million kilometres just in the 15 weeks that they’ve actually been doing it. We’ve ramped it up through remote New South Wales and indeed, other parts of the country through the Royal Flying Doctor Service. They’ll be visiting 30,000 people via 80 communities and certainly, even around the Riverina and Central West the numbers are very, very good. I notice that in this morning’s local paper they’re talking about very good numbers – 7,500 vaccinations – already. I would urge and encourage Australians to get vaccinations. Get their jab. Get their second jab. I’m getting mine on Monday. I chose not to go and get mine when some of the pollies were lining up very early. I thought, “No, I’ll just wait until everybody else is – when I’m eligible to do the right thing”. So, on Monday I’ll be lining up and rolling the sleeve up and I encourage others to do the same.

POPPY PENNY

Do you think there’s a correlation between the numbers of vaccinations increasing and the number of people that are putting their hand up to get vaccinated and the outbreak we’re seeing in Victoria?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Yes. Yes, I do and I think it’s sort of awoken people out of perhaps a little bit of complacency because we’ve done so well, I mean, in as far as you look at our case rates and death numbers, I mean 910 deaths since James Kwan lost his life in Perth on March 1 last year. Of course, that’s very sad for their families and of course, their communities, but you compare us to other countries, I mean, the United States – 598 deaths yesterday and 595,000 already. The UK, 128,000 deaths. I mean, Germany, another country with a very good health system, 88,945 deaths. I mean, they’re the deaths. We’re getting – we had seven cases yesterday – seven cases and we’ve had one death this year. So, you know, we are doing very, very well. So, when people are criticising, you know, roll outs and this and that and everything else, I mean, we’ve done incredibly well and that’s due to Australians doing the right thing. Getting the jabs but mainly, you know, social distancing, doing those QR codes whenever they go into a shop or anywhere for that matter. Continue to do that. Make sure you did it because you’ll keep yourself safe, you’ll keep your family safe and you’ll keep other people safe in the community safe.

LEIGH RYAN

Michael, there’s been a fair bit of misinformation floating around since the start of this pandemic on various issues. Vaccines are the current one being targeted. Is there any plans at a government level to put out an information campaign or to do something to address the misinformation? The latest one was from a misuse of some TGA numbers around the vaccine?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, with social media and the like you’re never going to stop people from putting up their own ideas and their own theories about what vaccine are good and perhaps what vaccines may not be effective. But rest assured, we follow the best possible medical advice. They say the efficacy of both AstraZeneca and Pfizer and other vaccines that have been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration will all do the job, will all keep us safe. We’ll get that jab, we’ll get that second jab. If we have to get later on another top-up, only if the health authorities tell us to do so via the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, then we’ll do that. We’ll follow that advice. But the best thing to do is follow the advice and if anybody has any doubts, they should go to australia.gov.au, because that’s where the best possible advice is.

POPPY PENNY

The Government’s been quoted as saying that the vaccine roll out is not a race. Should it be with what we’re seeing in Victoria and we’re seeing borders being closed again?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, we don’t want people to be alarmed. We want them to be alert but not alarmed. We don’t want people to panic, we don’t want them to rush into supermarkets and raid shelves. We don’t want – because we’ve seen that. In just recent days we’ve seen it again. We don’t want them to try to, you know, mass exodus capital cities where there might be a hotspot or a lockdown. We want people to stay calm, to get their vaccination when eligible to do so and to continue, if they are being asked to wear masks and do that, then please do so. But keep swiping your phone with those QR codes. Keep the social distancing and doing all those sorts of things and we’ll stay healthy.

POPPY PENNY

We saw yesterday some good news, the Commonwealth Government will be providing a payment for states that are – or people – that are in a lockdown for longer than seven days, after a little bit of chatter from the Victorian Government about looking for a bit of a payment provided by the Commonwealth. Does the Government have an understanding of how important that money is for people who live week to week? There’s been a bit of an acquisition that sometimes the Government can be a little bit out of touch from those that are living week to week and requiring a payment week to week and if they’re not getting that money the impact that that can have? And secondly, what kind of hoops will people need to jump through to receive that payment from the Commonwealth Government, if they are, in fact, in lockdown for longer than seven days?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Yes, I understand, Poppy and its $500 for people who would lose more than 20 hours a week. It’s $325 for people who would lose less than 20 hours per week. It’s mainly to get them through that week and of course, we’ll monitor that. We’ll work through states. It’s going to be hopefully approved by the National Cabinet today, meeting. But what we also don’t want to see is states having that propensity to lockdown their state, whether it’s either an area where there is a hotspot or, indeed, the entire state, which is what actually has been happening at the drop of a hat, you know, on one or two cases also. What we want to see is life continuing as normal. What we want to see is that tracking and tracing being done and that’s why it’s so important that people get vaccinated and to do all the right things but what we don’t want to also see is people staying at home for long periods and working from home, because that’s no good for anybody. It’s no good for schools. It’s no good for kids trying to learn and having to do it via telepresence. It’s no good for businesses trying to run shops with their staff at home via telepresence. What we want to see is some sort of pre-COVID normality and Premiers locking down their states on snap decisions, making, you know, one or two cases, elevating that beyond where it needs to be, that’s what we don’t want to see and that’s what we’re trying to avoid.

POPPY PENNY

And how do people access that payment? It is a fantastic initiative that you’ll be providing money for those that will be losing it during what’s longer than a seven-day lockdown. How do people access that? What information do they need to provide to their workplace or to Centrelink or to the government agencies involved?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, you’re right, they’re going to need to provide all that information about how many hours they’ve lost. They obviously are going to need to go to Centrelink or australia.gov.au, see how they’re eligible, fill out a form and apply for that money, which will go into their bank accounts literally straight away, because that’s what we’ve done through the fires. That’s what we’ve done through other natural disasters. This is a payment which will help them get through that week and of course, if it’s a longer lockdown than that, well, we’ll address that as well but what we don’t want to see is too many lockdowns, because that affects everybody. It’s money available for those people in that designated hotspot. So, for those people who are perhaps a long way away, well, that’s only for those people in that particular lockdown spot. So, that’s why we don’t want to see Premiers shutting down entire states, because it’s not good for anybody and it’s certainly not good for regional communities which are just trying to get on and live their lives when they’re being affected by decisions made by Premiers in capital cities which, in some cases, are many, many hundreds of kilometres away and they haven’t had a coronavirus case for many, many months, if at all.

LEIGH RYAN

You’ve been travelling a lot around regional Australia recently. What have people been talking to you about? What are the concerns? What are the things they’re really happy about at the moment?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, they’re very happy about the instant asset write-off and I was talking to Scott and Richard Braid from Wagga Motors just the day before yesterday and they have had a very good year with people going in and buying utes and buying cars and buying vehicles and that is good. And of course, with that instant asset write-off extended in the Budget out until June 30, 2023, well, they’re looking forward to another good year. Of course, the mouse plague is affecting a lot of farmers, but they’re hoping that the colder weather is going to reduce the numbers and they’re also looking forward to another bumper harvest come harvest time. So that’s good.

But elsewhere, people are actually pretty good. Regional Australia is leading the way. Agriculture has grown to a $66 billion enterprise despite the drought and despite the fires and everything else that’s beset and befallen our nation in recent times. The mood is actually not too bad. And I have to say, the Budget was very well received. You drive anywhere around regional Australia, certainly the Riverina and you see a lot of stop-go people, a lot of orange hi-vis vests and a lot of graders pushing dirt around. Well, that’s making better roads and that’s because we’ve got that Local Roads and Community Infrastructure, which in our electorate alone is helping councils to the tune of $27 million of additional roadworks. So, that’s got to help road safety and that’s got to help people get to where they need to be sooner and safer.

LEIGH RYAN

If you get Dobney Avenue fixed, you’ll get Poppy’s vote for life.

POPPY PENNY

Dobney Avenue rattles my teeth every time I drive to the gym. Now, the other day I drove out to the wonderful Mangoplah Football Oval actually and I watched the Mango’ boys team get a win and the netball A1 girls get a win. They’re top of the ladder in both, Michael.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Indeed, the footy team is undefeated and Trent Castles is kicking plenty of goals. Alex McCormack down the back is stopping plenty of goals, so that’s good to see.

POPPY PENNY

Cheeky family plug, there. I like that.

LEIGH RYAN

Michael, it’s always a pleasure to catch up. Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Thank you so much for your time this morning.

POPPY PENNY

We really appreciate it.

LEIGH RYAN

And look forward to having you as the PM for a little bit while Scott goes overseas.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

From next Thursday – feel safe. I’ll talk to you again next week when I am Acting PM.

LEIGH RYAN

It’s Triple M, 8:21am, Poppy and Leigh with Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Thanks for your time.

ENDS 8:22AM

Shane Manning