Prime Minister
MARK LEVY: Prime Minister Scott Morrison, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER: G’day, Mark.
LEVY: There's a lovely photo, Prime Minister, today on the front page of The Daily Telegraph. It's the widows of the two firefighters killed at Buxton, embracing each other, remembering their husbands as heroes and you met with Melissa and Jess over the weekend.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I met them yesterday and I also met Andrew and Geoff’s parents and other members of the Horsley Park Brigade. They're an incredible band of brothers and sisters out there and they’re giving them both the family's tremendous support. I embraced them as anyone would and hopefully that provided some comfort but they're obviously in terrible shock and in terrible grief. Two little ones, 19 months old, born just a week or so apart. It's just... it is just a devastating, devastating scene. I mean, the incident was tragic. If the truck had gone through half a minute earlier or later, then things may have been different. And so that's all just a lot to take in for the family. But with the group support that I saw in place there today and the generosity of spirit and the flowers that have been laid already and from all around the country out there at that Brigade, it again in the worst of times, the best of Australians.
LEVY: I think heroes is the right word to describe both the professional and volunteer firefighters, because, you know, they are there putting their lives at risk to protect lives and homes. I mean, I was talking last week about a story, Prime Minister, an RFS captain lost her own home and 24 hours later, she was back fighting the fires. It's just extraordinary.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's right, and Horsley Park Brigade went out again and they wanted to because they knew that’s what they believed Andrew and Geoff would have wanted. And as always with Commissioner Fitzsimmons yesterday, on the Saturday there was a call put out for additional support and volunteers - 1,000 turned up extra. 1,000.
LEVY: It’s extraordinary.
PRIME MINISTER: 2,000 were already there. This is an amazing volunteer force that we have in this country. There's over 200,000. 70,000 in New South Wales. But, you know, just like on our beaches where we rely on our surf lifesavers or Meals on Wheels or emergency services [inaudible] fires. Australia's response really does rely on volunteers [inaudible].
LEVY: We've got a bit of a shaky line there, Prime Minister. We'll try and keep going and see how we go. But just on these volunteers, I mentioned the fact that quite a lot of them have taken time off work to pitch in and fight the fires, which they're doing so brilliantly well. Most of them have taken unpaid leave. What can the federal and state governments do to compensate them?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don’t know if compensation is the word. We will always rely around the country on our volunteer forces, whether it's on fires or surf lifesaving or anything else. But, you know, right now, the Commissioner has reminded me that they need to focus on the operational effort and not be too distracted by those issues at the moment. But together with the premiers, I've been talking with them about how we can do things that can better equip the commissioners to be able to provide specialist support or additional capacity to be able to roll out what they need to fight these fires. So, you know, we're not going to make any knee jerk responses. It's easy to say those sorts of things. But it should be carefully considered because at the end of the day, they're all state and territory agencies and I'll consult carefully with those. But what matters is that you're able to give our commissioners the resources they need to even better respond. But I've got to say, this is the best firefighting force in the world and their response on this has demonstrated it once again.
LEVY: There's been plenty of criticism levelled at your government for not calling in the Defence Force to help these firefighters. But what people seem to be ignoring is the fact that you have offered up the personnel and the machinery in the affected areas and I'm assuming that's ongoing.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, the Defence Force has been totally involved and they have been. I mean, my first visit when the fire season began early was up in Canungra at the Canungra Base where they were providing accommodation support, airlift support and logistical support. The incident response centre was on the Base. The Armed Forces and Defence Force are involved in all of these and where there are Defence Force personnel that are trained for firefighting, well, they are out on the fire ground with their brigades, just like, you know, an employee of any other company or a self-employed person is out there volunteering. And our Defence Force personnel who have those skills are doing just that. But they're clearing roads, they're clearing debris, they are providing night flight reconnaissance to be able to position and provide technical information to the predictive fire technologies that is used in the command centres. I mean, the Defence Force are heavily engaged in this effort and at a local level. I'm out here at Richmond just now. I mean, those commanders on bases here were given a direction many months ago by myself and the Defence Minister to take what action was necessary locally on their own command.
LEVY: Just on the topic of clearing, one of the constant complaints we get here at the radio station is the fact that landowners and farmers, they aren't allowed to clear their land which is what's fuelling a lot of these flames. Is that something that we need to address in the new year?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, absolutely, Mark. There are a lot of issues that go into these fires and obviously the drought and the dryness of the fuel load is one. I mean, how fuel loads are managed in national parks right around the country by state. Obviously, that's an issue. Native vegetation clearing, how the rules that sit around clearing trees that are close to your houses and all of this. I mean, it is true that this fire season is much more prolonged and started earlier and will go on and it won't have the relief of a dousing that you’d normally expect not too far from now, the Commissioner tells me here in New South Wales. But the reality of that and the way these fire seasons are now presenting means that all those who, frankly, have been quite difficult when it comes to these native vegetation management issues of land clearing issues and things like that. Well, if they say and they're right to say these seasons are changing, well, it means that you've got to change those rules, too, and they shouldn't be resisted.
LEVY: All right. A couple of quick things before I let you go, you're a busy man. You haven't changed your position on climate change and global warming. But it seems your deputy is being brainwashed by these environmentalists, with Michael McCormack saying Australia must increase its efforts to tackle climate change and the bushfires have increased community fears about global warming. Is there a divide in the Coalition at the moment on this issue?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I think that’s... no, I don't think so at all, Mark. We're saying the same thing….
LEVY: But you’re not saying the same thing, though, Prime Minister. When you're saying that there's no change and he's saying that we need to increase our efforts. That’s a difference.
PRIME MINISTER: Our existing policies have increased efforts, Mark, so that's the point. We're going to beat our commitments that were made for 2020. We will meet and my intention is to beat our commitments to 2030. The emissions that are coming out of Australia today on average are 50 million tonnes less today than they were under the previous government. So, look, I'm following with my Deputy Prime Minister a responsible path on this. I'm not going to adopt the policies that destroy people's jobs or turn our back on traditional industries. I mean, that won't cool the globe one celsius or a fraction of it. All it'll do is make the livelihoods of Australians more challenging. And so we're going to just keep a sensible path. The calls for panic... I don't panic. Anyone who does that shouldn't be running anything.
LEVY: All right. You're announcing today the construction of some renewable gas-fired power plants in Queensland and Victoria. Can we expect some announcements on coal, maybe even nuclear energy in the new year, or are renewables the way of the future?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, you need the whole mix, there's no doubt about that. And firstly, there's a proposal for Collinsville up in North Queensland which we're expecting a report on very, very soon. There are some others in New South Wales and we'll see where that goes. I'm quite agnostic, just as long as it's reliable and it’s cheaper. And I did welcome the fact yesterday, Mark, that the ACCC showed that we had a $65 on average reduction where there have been… sorry, a $65 reduction annually on power bills as a result of what we put in place on the energy companies and I welcome that. I think that's great. So, you know, you deal with the environmental challenge. You make sure you keep your economy growing and you get power prices down. That's what I'm trying to do, that's what I promised the Australian people I would do and we're getting on with that. There'll be lots of shouting noises elsewhere, but I tend to listen to those quiet, still voices.
LEVY: And the farmers as well, Mr Morrison, what can they expect in the New Year? I mean, these low-interest loans that they tell me are just putting them further and further behind. What can the Federal Government, your Government, be doing to help those struggling through this devastating drought in the new year?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we've just announced as Parliament wrapped us this year. What worked incredibly well up in North Queensland was our response to the floods up there and we set up to the Livestock Industry Recovery Agency up there which Shane Stone was heading up. I’ve now broadened the commission of that organisation to now directly oversee and manage our drought response nationally. So they can expect that absolutely. And that will better connect those affected in drought areas to all the many programmes we have. The suggestion that there's no money going in to support drought-affected areas is just simply not true. And this is a way of better connecting people to the support that's there. Now, on these no-interest loans, we'll look at the drought conditions several years from now when things get into that situation. And obviously whether further support is needed then that will be provided. What we most need, of course, is rain. And people know we can't make it rain, but through all the massive stimulus spending we’ve put into local towns and districts to keep people in work, the direct support we've provided to over 10,000 farmers specifically through the Farm Household Allowance, where we've got rid of a lot of the paperwork. We've also got rid of some of the rules that prevented access to people. Over a five year period people would be getting in the order of over $100,000, or just over four years, I should say. So, you know, we're dealing with those issues as they arise. But it's tough. It's really tough.
LEVY: And I reckon you'd be pretty easy to buy a Christmas present for this Christmas. Jenny and the girls, they’d just log on to the Sharks website, wouldn't they Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, yeah, we're not going to be playing at home this year. We will be over there at Jubilee so that should be an interesting season sharing it there with the Dragons. I met a bloke yesterday, Mark, and this just I think goes to just where people's heads are at where they've been directly affected by fires. This bloke and his wife had lost their home, he was worried about his business. He builds playgrounds and it all he could talk to me about was how he wasn’t going to get that playground he was working on out at Menangle finished in time for Christmas. And the selflessness of it was touching. But the thing that really seemed to be upsetting him is he'd lost a lot of his Dragons memorabilia in the shed that he'd had. And so I’ll have a chat with the guys down at the Dragons and see if they can help him out.
LEVY: Just make sure you don’t get a seat in front of our broadcast box otherwise you'll have the Big Marn on your case. Always good to talk with you, Prime Minister. Have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot, Mark. Nice to talk to you.