Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you Bathy, good to see you, Allen thank you for the welcome to country, I’m going to appropriate some of those stories I can tell you from time to time. It’s wonderful to hear, to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and elders past, present and future. It’s also wonderful to be able to recognise any veterans who are with us here today and serving men and women of our defence force, including our reservists and I’m sure there’s plenty of those at Qantas as well, and just simply say thank you for your service.
To Alan and Richard thank you for the opportunity to come here today. Alan and I were speaking on the phone a little while back and he talked about an opportunity like this. There’s still a job to do, mum and dad always taught me never forget to say thank you. And that’s why I’ve come here today.
To Michael McCormack, the Deputy Prime Minister, who has worked so closely together with the transport sector, and the aviation sector more broadly, to times like this when, the Big Mac as I sometimes call him, I turn to him and say, mate we need to do this- do you think Qantas would be up for that? Absolutely, and Michael can say that with a great level of confidence and I know that to be true. So it’s great to have Michael here with me today to say thank you.
To all the Qantas staff who are here, not just the ones who live in the Shire, but to all of them - but especially the ones who live in the Shire. All Qantas staff who are here today, it’s wonderful to be here with you.
To all the DFAT team who are here, those from the Department of Agriculture, the serving personnel of the ADF who took part, the Federal Police, Border Force, and those- amazing team at AUSMAT.
To representatives of state agencies, what an amazing team that came together to pull this off, and it is the purpose of today to simply, to say thank you.
To Qantas, as well as all involved in helping bring our people home - and to bring them home safely.
To Qantas - thank you for stepping up.
We’re going through a very difficult time, we’ve gone through a terrible summer, and now we are facing what is a genuine global health crisis with the coronavirus.
People are going to learn a lot about companies in this country over the next six months.
And what Qantas has already said, tells you everything you ever knew about the company, its spirit, its commitment, its patriotism, answering a call.
But most of all, they love to bring people home.
That’s what you love doing, that’s what your business is about.
And when I walk in here I feel like I’m at home.
And when I get on a Qantas plane, I feel at home.
And I think Australians feel that all the way, all around the world, as the song says.
I want to thank you for demonstrating what it is to be a good corporate citizen.
I want to thank you for living up to your corporate values.
You know all those boring workshops people go to, and they write things up on the white board, all those values - that doesn’t matter, that doesn’t mean anything unless you do what you’ve just done.
Those values are written into every single employee of this organisation and you should be commended for that Alan, in the way you’ve led that together with your board.
It is saying, what you’ve done, what you understand your duty to your country is.
Of course you have a duty to your shareholders and I’m sure the board would rapidly agree.
But Qantas put Australians above the shareholders in responding to this, as we all have to as we go through this difficult period, to say count me in, not out.
That’s what you’ve done.
And so we honour staff today and across Government too, who were so instrumental in these assisted departures as was the technical term but we all know what they were, they were evacuations out of both China and Japan.
Government and business working together.
And we’re going to have to see a lot more of that in the months ahead.
Stoicism, courage, the judgment that was exercised, the expertise, the determination, all of this came together.
And it gives me great encouragement as I look into the months ahead, which will also be challenging.
It will demand from all of us many different things - more patience, more willingness to step up again.
For some, that will simply be self-isolating, for others it will just be checking in on a neighbour.
It will require many businesses to do the right thing by their customers, by their employees, by their suppliers. And that will be difficult.
But we will see the best in each other as we're acknowledging the best of you here today.
Our country's story is not going to be written in the aisles of shopping centres having tiffs over toilet paper.
That is not going to be the story of this country through this crisis.
The story of this country is going to be what you have already done.
And I know, what so many Australians are going to do in the months ahead.
The DFAT officers who volunteered to travel into a city effectively locked down to help other Australians out of Shanghai, and then themselves had to go into quarantine.
People like James Russel and his DFAT team, they travelled up to 14 hours by car to Wuhan.
On the ground for twelve days.
And there were volunteers like Shevaun Marks.
Shevaun was on leave from DFAT, but had accompanied her spouse on a posting to Shanghai. And she put her hand up to go back into service. And put her hand up to travel to Wuhan.
Our doctors and nurses, who faced their own risks. The AUSMAT team who are with us today - thank you so much.
Around Australia today, there are tens of thousands of medical professionals watching out for our people.
Our Armed Forces, our doctors and many medical staff take an Oath. I thank them for keeping it.
Today, I am here to thank our national carrier for doing the same thing.
A “national carrier” is not a term you can buy.
It is not a term leased, patented or tendered out.
It’s not even a legal responsibility.
It’s a moral one.
It’s that willingness to stand in the breach, and say we have a responsibility to Australia and we will fulfil it.
And Qantas earns that each and every day and no more so than on this occasion.
This DNA of Qantas is something we’re celebrating 100 years of, and while I agree with you Richard, it’s been a pretty difficult way to acknowledge the sacrifice and service of Qantas but at the same time it’s quite appropriate that at times like this it’s the true spirit of this wonderful company that is shining through in these difficult times.
That’s actually what we’re celebrating. That’s what we’re marking.
Qantas pilots dropped supplies to the frontline during World War Two.
The Skippy Squadron took our troops safely to and from Vietnam.
Qantas launched the Flying Doctor service, and helped evacuate Darwin from Cyclone Tracy.
Over our ‘black summer’ of bushfires, Qantas carried thousands of firefighters and tonnes of equipment around the country.
And again and again, Qantas steps up.
And as a leader of a Cabinet that’s looking to people to step up at the moment, around the country, Qantas has set an example, I thanked Alan earlier not just for the fact they ran these flights but it really helped me convince the banks to pass on the cash rate cut the other day. So all those mortgage holders, thank Alan for that one too!
Under your wings, 680 passengers returned home.
244 passengers, including 89 children, were on the first flight from Wuhan to Learmonth.
In the weeks that followed, Qantas made two more rescue flights.
One — from Wuhan to Darwin — carried 266 passengers, including 136 children.
The other — from Tokyo to Darwin — carrying 170 passengers, all of whom had been on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Of course that wasn’t easy.
There was the aircraft that was unexpectedly delayed in Hong Kong - with the officials and staff having to remain on the aircraft for 24 hours.
And they commandeered business class and broke out the cheese boxes I understand, to get them through. How very Australian! Very Australian.
And it was the same ingenuity that saw some of our government staff on the second flight run an impromptu crèche for the 136 children on board.
But more than anything, what captures what Qantas did is best was expressed by the passengers.
When the first flight landed at Learmonth - QF 6032 - the pilot said “Welcome to Australia'' - and the passengers cheered and clapped.
That’s what sticking by each other looks like. That how, more importantly, it feels like.
Nowhere better than home.
So let me say, it wasn’t just Qantas that stepped up. It was a broad team as Alan and the whole team know.
I also want to acknowledge Skytraders as well who supported the transfer of passengers to and from Christmas Island.
I want to thank also, Air Nauru who assisted with these flights as well.
Whilst my focus is on our work here at home, I also want to acknowledge the Chinese authorities and embassy in Canberra, the Chinese embassy for their constructive approach to helping us facilitate these flights.
That is deeply appreciated.
This disease doesn’t have an accent, it knows no nationality, this virus, it has no borders. And so governments keep working cooperatively to address it.
Here in Australia, in China, Japan, and in so many places around the world.
I know Alan is very proud of his staff, as he should be - and the extraordinary things that you have achieved.
I am also, and your country is also.
To the wonderful public servants here as well today - I am especially proud of you.
Not just the work that you have done.
But the work you are continuing to do now.
Planning for every eventuality.
Thousands of public servants doing their jobs - DFAT, Border Force, AFP, those in our health department, doctors, nurses, aged care professionals, child care workers.
Every level of government - the private sector too.
Incredible work.
Working together.
I said before the Australian people, we’ve got ahead of this, we need to stay ahead of it.
We’re not immune from it.
But I can look the Australian people in the eye and say, we will get through this.
And the reason I can say that is because what you proved on those three flights.
Thank you very much.