Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. There is no more important job for an Australian Prime Minister, and indeed Premiers and Chief Ministers of states and territories, than to keep Australians safe. After the devastating Black Summer bushfires, we are still in that summer as we speak. I said some weeks ago now that it would be necessary for us to move forward with a national Royal Commission. At the same time, states and territories are proceeding as we anticipated and as they said they would, as is appropriate, with a series of inquiries that they're running at the state and territory level, as is appropriate. Today, the Governor-General issued letters patent to establish a national Royal Commission into the Black Summer fires. That Royal Commission is about three things: improving natural disaster management coordination across all levels of government; improving Australia's resilience and adaptation to a changing climate, living in hotter, longer, drier summers in this country; and, importantly, a legal framework as is necessary for the Commonwealth's involvement in responding to national emergencies. One of the great challenges of the Black Summer fires has been how they impacted on so many different states and territories, often at the same time. We all remember the day that a state of natural disaster was declared in Victoria. It was on the Thursday, I recall. We'd had the terrible fires that have been raging also through New South Wales to such devastating effect. By that Saturday, two days after we had the first compulsory call-out of the reservists, which saw our numbers increase from 890 to 6,500 in a matter of weeks. As the Commonwealth, we decided to take leadership and to put more boots on the ground. And I am sure everyone all over the country that is affected by those fires was so grateful to see those boots on the ground. And I want to thank General Ellwood and everyone who has been involved in that operation, which continues to this day, Operation Bushfire Assist, for the way they've been conducting that operation, providing tremendous support to communities and great relief across the country.
The Royal Commission will be led by the former Chief of Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, and he will be supported by two other commissioners, a former Federal Court judge, the Honourable Dr Annabelle Bennett , and by Professor Andrew Macintosh, who is a specialist researcher in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This Royal Commission accepts, it acknowledges, it understands the impact of climate change more broadly on the climatic conditions that Australia is living in. What this Royal Commission is looking at are the practical things that must be done to keep Australians safer and safe in longer, hotter, dry summers in the conditions in which Australians will live into the future. So that's dealing with the practical things that need to happen, on everything from preparation to response and importantly recovery. In framing these terms of reference, we circulated and sought comment from the states and territories and I thank all the Premiers and Chief Ministers for their feedback and input into that process and we listened carefully to those responses and we've made adaptations as necessary to ensure that the Royal Commission will enable the commissioners to look at this issue very much from the position of the national perspective. And that national perspective, as I said, will look at what is the arrangements when you could have a national state of emergency or disaster declared? There is no such power. There is no such declaration that currently exists and therefore no consequent powers, authorities or actions that would flow from such a declaration. And so it's important to discuss through, particularly when you have natural disasters that are occurring across multiple states, how that would be put in place, what would be the conditions? What would it then do and how would that integrate and work with the state and territory effort?
It’s also important, I think, as Australians have said very clearly that they want a greater national perspective on these issues. And so it is important to ensure that when we're talking about issues like hazard management, hazard reduction, when we're talking about vegetation, native vegetation management, when we're talking about building standards and controls and planning land-use laws, that we have a greater national consistency in our understanding of what the best practice is and what the standards are and what the plans are and what the accountabilities are using common methodologies so Australians can get a national picture of how we're tracking. These are clearly and absolutely and should forever be the responsibility of states and territories. This isn't about changing who does what. This is about how we work together even more effectively and we build on the disaster recovery arrangements that have been put in place by previous governments that have been tested on this occasion because of the multiple-jurisdiction nature of this disaster. We've also seen, across these latest fires some inconsistency in how the application of the various category A, B and C assistance has been declared in different states and territories. When you're only operating in one state or there's only one jurisdiction that's been affected, well, those inconsistencies don't present because they’re declared by the states. But when you have it happening at Kangaroo Island and you have it happening up in Canungra, you have it happening in Batemans Bay or East Gippsland at the same time, then obviously it's important that Australians should have the same expectations of the level of support that they might receive in those circumstances.
Now, we've worked together to do our best to ensure that they’ve been as consistent as possible, and I make no criticisms at all of the state and territory governments and, in particular, those who led the first line of defence, the first response in combating the fires themselves. The volunteer fire brigades, the emergency services departments and all these organisations. This is an opportunity to have a national Royal Commission which looks at the ways that the national coordination, the national consistency, the national standards of the national measure and the national powers and authorities that need to be put in place and that those questions can be considered and they can be assessed. Now, it is important that this be done in a very rapid fashion, as the states are also doing. So six months have been set aside for this inquiry, that needs to report back by the 31st of August of this year. That will also give them, based on the reporting timetables for the state and territory arrangements, a month to consider the recommendations and the inquiries that have been undertaken at that level.
This isn't an inquiry as to whether the truck should have gone down that road, or gone down some other road. The states are looking at those operational issues and that's why it's important that there be close collaboration between this national Royal Commission with the State-based inquiries, particularly that are occurring in New South Wales, South Australia and in Victoria. And I would hope that that would be the case, because the more they work together, the quicker they can get the job done, the quicker the Premiers, Chief Ministers and I and the relevant Emergency Services and Management Ministers around the country can get on with the recommendations that they would bring forward.
Now, I want to go to one other item on corona before we go to general questions, if it's not inconvenient. I can confirm that 170 people did depart Japan and they've arrived back in Australia at Darwin and they have been transferred to Howard Springs. I can confirm the Australian Embassy in Tokyo continues to provide consular support to 47 passengers in Japan who have tested positive to the coronavirus, the Covid-19 virus, as well as those who chose to remain behind in Japan and those who have opted to finish their quarantine on the Diamond Princess. So those arrangements have been put in place. I can confirm that there are still only 15 cases in Australia. But I can also say that 10 of those cases have now recovered. So we have five who are in an active part of the virus and the containment arrangements that we put in place as a government continue to be very effective.
Now, as you know, we are reviewing the travel ban on a weekly basis. We'll be doing that again today and over the course of the next 24 hours, when we have concluded that consideration a statement will be issued about the next steps. I can say that not a lot has changed between this time when we considered this issue last week and today. But one of the other things that we're also looking very carefully at is the mitigations and the things we can do to try and minimise the impact on particular sectors, particularly in the education sector. There's been a lot of discussions going on between the university and school sector and Minister Tehan and Minister Hunt, and we'll be considering some of those arrangements over the course of the next 24 hours as well.
So it continues to present a significant challenge. The good news is, if you can call it that, is that we're getting better data now because of the number of cases that exist outside mainland China and that is another set of data that can be used by the researchers and by the medical experts who are advising the government. That's giving us a clearer insight on the severity of the virus and issues like mortality rates and how that compares into intensified zones like Wuhan where the mortality rate outside of Wuhan, particularly outside of China, are far less than what we're seeing in those places. And particularly when you remove the impact of the Diamond Princess, which was a particularly significant cohort group, which was skewing the broader international numbers, we can get a better sense of what the threat and impact of this virus is going forward, because we have- first priority, whether it's bushfires or coronavirus or anything else, health and welfare of Australians is the first priority. We're also very mindful though of the significant economic impacts of this virus, but that's not restricted to Australian that is happening globally. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, isn't this Royal Commission about justifying your argument in the dispute with New South Wales in early January, about sending in the reservists and also about showing the states haven't done enough on hazard reduction, isn't it about saying the states aren’t up to it and in particular, New South Wales? Justifying your position?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it's not Andrew. It’s got nothing to do with that. That's a pretty cynical view. What it is about is ensuring that the Commonwealth and the States have clear, clear understandings of the legal arrangements that enable the Commonwealth to act, for the states and territories to act, for us to work together. I'm not making any criticisms of the states and territories. I was pretty clear about that in my opening statement. We're working together with the states and territories. When you have a devastating impact of the Black Summer fires that we've had. You've got to learn the lessons and you've got to look at the ways you can do things better. And when we moved to put 6,500 Defence Force personnel in boots on the ground, we did that in a constitutional grey zone but with the great permission also of the states and territories so those issues didn't arise. So I'd expect Mark Binskin as a former CDF to know what the sensitivities and the legal issues are here and what the practical issues are, this is about assisting us all, Andrew, to ensure that we can make Australians more safe in longer, hotter, drier summers in the future. It's not about conflict. It's about action and it's about making people safe.
JOURNALIST: But you believe that New South Wales were recalcitrant, they did the wrong thing, don’t you, that's your personal view?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: So it was okay for them not to request that? Those reservists at that time?
PRIME MINISTER: Andrew, I'm not going to have you put words in my mouth. What I'm saying is we need to know the answers to these questions. Australians, their safety, needs the answers to these questions so we can better protect them. It’s not about politics. I know the media likes to focus on politics, obsessed by it, but Australians are interested in their safety. And this national Royal Commission is about their safety.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how would state of national emergency laws have changed the Defence Force's involvement in New South Wales during the recent bushfires?
PRIME MINISTER: What we are seeking to understand is how our defence forces can be in a more proactive position to provide support, not to fight the fires. There is no suggestion here that defence forces would be trained in fighting fires. The people who fight fires in this country are overwhelmingly our volunteer fire brigades, supported by state governments, resourced by them, trained by them, run by them, under their command and control, and they do an amazing job. I think one of the clear lessons from the recent disaster has been that where we've been able to get those Defence Force personnel in more quickly and more promptly, then that has provided great relief and comfort to those communities. And I don't think the states and territories have any issues with that at all. And so this just enables, I think, a more effective partnership.
JOURNALIST: Would these laws have seen then come into New South Wales, though, into fighting that or being involved in that effort sooner?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, I think that's a retrospective analysis that the commission will certainly look at, as they should. But what's more important-
JOURNALIST: What's your view?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is why I've commissioned a national Royal Commission. I'm interested in them doing the work and providing that advice. I'm doing this because I want them to inform the answers to those questions, appropriately. And I've asked a former judge, a former Chief of the Defence Forces and a scientist, a professor who has experience in dealing with climate change adaptation. So these are experts who can give us all, shed a lot of light on this. Working with what the states and territories are doing, I think it’ll help us, give us a lot of answers to help make people safer in the future.
JOURNALIST: But you were frustrated with New South Wales weren’t you?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I’m going to let you be frustrated for one second Andrew and let PVO get a question in.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, would you like to see the Royal Commission hear evidence from the former Fire Chiefs who tried to warn you about the impending catastrophe before it happened but couldn't get access?
PRIME MINISTER: It's up to them who they call, and how they call and when they run their meetings and how they run their hearings, they have the powers to conduct those open hearings. And that'll be a matter for the royal commission.
JOURNALIST: But do you think they should hear from them?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't give the Royal Commission a running guidance on how to, they run their commission. That's for them to do. It's an independent Royal Commission. The idea that the Prime Minister would somehow be seeking to direct them in any way like that I think would be highly inappropriate. It's up to them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister is 6 months enough for this inquiry, given the devastation of this summer's bushfires?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it’s the same length of time that has been done for the state inquiries. And they'll be looking at a lot of operational matters in particular. It's important that we get this done quick, because we need to ensure that we have advice coming back to us, particularly as we go into next season. There's already been an enormous amount of work that has been done here by previous Royal Commissions. And one of the things they've been tasked to do under this terms of reference is to effectively audit the implementation of those recommendations. And I am aware that there's been a lot of good work already done in the research community and scientific community on those issues. So I think they'll be able to draw on that quite readily and to be able to move forward into the other areas of the inquiry.
JOURNALIST: Would you give evidence yourself if you've called upon? Do you anticipate that occurring?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, actually, it's, it's not that usual, but the royal commissioner has those powers.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I know you're damned if you do and damned if you don't in some respects but-
PRIME MINISTER: No surely not.
JOURNALIST: But did you think, did you, did you think really hard about whether to go down the royal commission path or not? You know, this idea of having so many royal commissions, a lot of people wanted it. Some people didn't.
PRIME MINISTER: I did. I thought very deeply about this as we were actually working through the recovery arrangements. And let's not forget, as I said, a state of disaster declared on the Thursday in Victoria, reservists called out compulsorily for the first time ever on the Saturday. On Monday, the National Bushfire Recovery Agency had been stood up, it had a head and it had a budget of $2 billion dollars. More than half of that had already been committed in a matter of weeks soon after that. At the same time, I was also considering how we needed to move to the next stage of learning from what had been a devastating bushfire crisis that had resulted in the loss of many, many lives. And those lives lost, whether there were those who were fighting the fires or those who were the victims of them, deserve these answers and their families, they deserve these answers and they deserve it at that level. And so I believed it was important to establish something at that level, at the right time. I didn't want it to begin while particularly the agencies were very involved in the direct bushfire fighting response. And I think both the states, particularly New South Wales and Victoria, and ourselves, we didn't rush to putting this together, but we knew it would be necessary. And so coming to the view it was then about, well, what should it be focussed on? It doesn't need to overlap. I don't believe does, with this terms of reference with what is being done at the state level. What it's doing is trying to understand from the national perspective - what are the things that nationally the federal government should be focussed on, in how it responds? And they fall into three areas, as I said one is whether there should be a national state of emergency at a statutory level that engages particular powers for responses, and certain responsibilities, and there need to be clear safeguards about how they can be used. That will have implications for our defence forces and how they prepare and their command structure on these issues as well. And I flagged that when I spoke at the Press Club.
The second one is, how can we ensure as a federal government that nationally Australians can have a greater sense of confidence that things like hazard reduction targets are being met and are being measured on the same basis, as well as the many other practices that are managed at a state level that they are meeting standards and they are reporting against them and Australians can have that confidence, that sunlight is a very good way of doing that.
And the third area, is to acknowledge that we are living in hotter, drier, longer summers. And that means building our climate resilience both in responsiveness and preparedness, as well as the longer term arrangements we need to do with adaptation. So that's what we have to focus on, and this Royal Commission will assist me greatly and the rest of the Cabinet, in responding to those issues, as I believe it will support COAG and the leaders of the states and territories.
JOURNALIST: What's the cost, what's the cost of the royal commission?
PRIME MINISTER: That's still being finalized. But to give you a guide, the 12 month cost of the Banking Royal Commission was just over $50 million, this is going for about half that time.
JOURNALIST: Just on the issue of coronavirus,
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: The Australians remaining in Wuhan are desperate to get out, why isn't it possible to arrange another evacuation flight just as you have for the Aussies in Japan?
PRIME MINISTER: Well as I said at the time on the first flight, I said we wouldn't be in a position to guarantee a second one. We were able to achieve that. We've just finished a third flight this time from Japan, and that has been quite an undertaking, and to the AUSMAT team and anyone else who's been involved with that, again Qantas, the amazing job they've done, to Australian Border Force in standing up Howard Springs and how that's being managed, I mean, this has been an extraordinary Australian effort here. But as as seamlessly as that has has been able to be undertaken make no mistake about its complexity, make no mistake about the complexity of getting into these areas and the various arrangements you need to put in place with those authorities. So at this point, we don't have a plan to do a third flight. We don't have that plan currently. But as I say, the National Security Committee is meeting every couple of days. We'll meet again today, on this matter in particular and consider particularly the issue of the ongoing travel ban. But that may not result in a firm conclusion today. There may be further that is needed before a statement is issued on that matter.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you believe security agencies such as the AFP need the help of the Australian Signals Directorate to hunt down paedophile and serious criminals online?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll tell you, I've always said that what happens in the real world, should happen in the digital world. Now, if I thought someone was abusing a child somewhere, I’d kick the door down, I'd go and try and rescue that child. And so those who want to abuse children shouldn't get to be able to hide in the internet. And if they're doing it, I'm going to use every tool at my disposal to try and protect that child.
JOURNALIST: So do you, what tools do security agencies currently lack when it comes to finding those criminals?
PRIME MINISTER: They'll get what they need to protect the kids. Thank you very much.