TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW ON ABC RIVERINA BREAKFAST 20 JANUARY 2022
7:12AM
E&OE
Subjects: George Christensen, voter polling, Agricultural Visa, food supply, rapid antigen tests, back to school
SALLY BRYANT
On ABC Riverina Breakfast we are living in funny times, aren't we? Novak Djokovic has been dispatched from Australia after a rather embarrassing and protracted stand-off between him and the Federal government; initially detained by border force officers because his paperwork wasn't correct. He was ultimately forced to leave because the Government stated he may pose a health risk to the Australian community because he could foster anti-vaccination sentiment. But it's pretty ironic given that Federal LNP MP George Christensen has been very vocal in his anti-vaccination stance and it's taken a long time for the Prime Minister to tackle him over them. Joining me this morning to talk about this and other issues is the Member for Riverina, former Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Mr McCormack, good morning.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Good morning Sally.
SALLY BRYANT
What are your personal view of these comments from George Christensen? I mean, calling on parents not to vaccinate their children.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, it was wrong advice to give and it was ill-informed and ill-judged and that's why I called him out. That's why I said that he shouldn't make those comments and that parents all over Australia should listen to health professionals; that’s what the Government’s done all the way through has listened to the best possible medical advice and that's been the Government's position.
SALLY BRYANT
It is a political reality that the numbers in Parliament are tight, the Prime Minister needs Christensen's support to govern, but where do you draw the line on an MP's behaviour on statements they make, particularly in a case like this when we're in what you would have to describe as a massive health crisis?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, I've distanced myself from the comments made by George Christensen, the Prime Minister has and so has the Health Minister and obviously Australians need to listen to the best possible medical advice. That's what the Government's done, that’s what the Prime Minister has done all the way through and that's why the Prime Minister did call George Christensen out and said that his comments regarding children's vaccinations and other things was contrary to the official professional medical advice provided to the Government and that we have followed all the way through.
SALLY BRYANT
But he is still, you know, he's still in the camp, he's still in the tent, isn't he? I mean, how long do you keep tolerating that sort of behaviour?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, he is still in the camp because he's been elected by the people of Dawson, he’s been elected by the people in and around Mackay to represent them in the Federal Parliament. There is an election this year and George Christensen isn't standing. Andrew Willcox is standing for the LNP. I hope people support him.
SALLY BRYANT
The Government's not tracking all that well in the polls, the Prime Minister's approval ratings not high and he seems to be developing a reputation as someone who's more about spin and making announcements than he is about delivering results or accountability. Given, as you say, we're in an election year how confident are you feeling?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
There is only one poll that matters and that's the election day poll and that showed last time, I mean at the previous election and, of course, the polling then in 2019, of course, wasn’t high either but polling is done by companies that ring people. They, media outlets, do a poll of a few hundred, a few thousand people. It doesn't mean to say that's the entire national feeling. It's, we live in difficult times and the Government has acted responsibly and pragmatically to all the, all this unprecedented disaster that has been caused by COVID-19, but the fact remains, too, we’ve saved 40,000 lives, given what we were facing at the start of this terrible pandemic, worldwide pandemic. If you look at Australia's record and compare it to other countries, we've done very well.
SALLY BRYANT
Hmmm. Now, regarding the Agricultural Visa and the Ag Visa rebate that's been announced, how does that work?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, we’ve relaxed the 20-hour rule when it comes to student visas and that they can be working more than 20 hours. We put the welcome mat out to tens of thousands of backpackers, we’ll be rebating their visa application fee, there are some 23 and a half thousand backpackers who have visas to come to Australia right now. Of course, the message is come on down, come please. That's what the Prime Minister said yesterday at his press conference. We’re about 90,000 backpackers short of where we would be in normal circumstances.
SALLY BRYANT
But the question is, though, why did it take so long to organise? Some critics are saying too little too late, many crops were already harvested.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
We've had the Ag Visa in relation to getting more people from the Pacific nations and more people from Asian nations in. We’ve had those arrangements in place for many months now and it's been very, very difficult because, of course, the border’s shut. And, of course, the borders haven't been exactly easy to open up given the fact that we have to have these arrangements with other countries. We have to make sure that people who are coming into the country are vaccinated, that's been proven, of course, with the tennis situation. So it's been very, very difficult and people understand that, they do.
SALLY BRYANT
Hmmm. The food supply chain’s in a pretty bad way across the country and still rapid antigen tests are virtually unobtainable. What's the Government doing about this and why wasn't the Government more proactive in getting supply of RATS before they took this sort of laissez-faire attitude to the virus?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
No, I disagree with that laissez-faire attitude. That wasn’t the case at all. We've placed an order. It's very difficult. It's not just Australia having difficulty getting these test kits. It’s also the UK, it's the US, right across … (interrupted)
SALLY BRYANT
But you see photos of in Germany, they’ve got vending machines where you can get them perfectly easily. I've heard stories about people writing to relatives overseas saying can you post me some because you've got no problem getting them.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Look, I’d prefer to live in Australia and have Australia’s health system and have the response to Omicron that we've had than any other nation in the world. There's tens of thousands of people who have died in countries with good health systems because of this latest variant. It has been very, very difficult. Australia placed an order, we've got 200 million coming in. Myself, I spent the first week of January arranging eight plane loads to come in from Hong Kong to make sure that a very large diagnostics firm in Perth had the right logistics to be able to get these properly approved and certified ATAGI test kits in to help Australia, to help regional Australia in particular. And so that's what we've done as a Government and that's what we'll continue to do.
SALLY BRYANT
There are big worker shortages in the food pipeline, though. They would be massively eased if there was access to free RAT tests for those workers, wouldn’t it?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
And that's why the Prime Minister said he had been working very closely with the States and working very closely with the trucking industry. And when I was the Transport Minister I did just that. I was on very much first name terms not just with the Ministers, State and Roads Ministers and Transport Ministers but indeed their entire families, we spent that much time on the Zoom meetings and that's what I did when I was the Transport Minister and we were able to get those trucks across the borders in … (interrupted)
SALLY BRYANT
The difficulty is, though, you have a situation where people are not going to have access to RAT tests and they are not going to be able to work and that's going to mean will be shutting down supply of food from some areas.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, that's why the test kits have been ordered. That's why they're coming in and that's why they're being rolled out. I know that's why the Prime Minister is actually taking charge and is working with the Transport Ministers across the nation and, as I did when I was the Transport Minister, and that's why we've acted very responsibly and very quickly to this.
SALLY BRYANT
Hmmm. And now just quickly, Mr McCormack, I know we’re short of time, National Cabinet meeting today to finalise a return to school plan, if you had school-aged children wouldn't you be a bit dubious about sending them back when there's so much virus circulating and very little, limited access to testing and, you know, so much concern?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, that's why many children have already received their first dose. That's why we urge and encourage, contrary to other advice given by some MPs, that we want those kids tested and we, you know, we thank our teachers for their efforts and, you know, that they've done as well, they've been magnificent. They’ll continue to be magnificent and kids need to be at school. They’ve had two years of hardship with the coronavirus. It's been very difficult for school children. I know, I’ve got a daughter who's a school teacher and it’s very, very difficult to do it when you're not face to face in the classroom, teach kids and make sure their learning is where it should be and that's why the kids’ best place is the school. Appreciate that it is difficult because of this latest variant, but we need kids at school and that's, of course, a responsibility of States and they’ll be continuing to work through the National Cabinet process to make sure that schools are open and that we have kids getting vaccinated.
SALLY BRYANT
Michael McCormack, thanks so much for your time this morning.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Anytime at all Sally. Thank you.
ENDS 7:20AM