Prime Minister
KARL STEFANOVIC: We're now joined by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison from Sydney, PM good morning to your.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning Karl, good morning Ally.
STEFANOVIC: Before we talk about the travel ban, I just want to clarify the confusion regarding schools not closing. On one hand, you're saying don't come within one and a half meters of each other socially. But our kids are a lot closer in the classroom, aren't they? That's a mixed message, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, these aren’t absolute measures Karl. What we're seeking to do is lower the risk of the spread. So where practical those social distancing arrangements should be put in place so that 1.5 metres, no more hand shakes, coughing into a handkerchief or into your elbow, avoiding contact with the elderly, all of those sorts of things should be administered wherever practical. I mean we've got the mass gathering bans from today. All of this is designed just to slow all this down. You can't manage every single risk in the community. And any suggestion that all of these measures can achieve that to the nth degree would just simply not be practical. So it's just about the sensible way of reducing the risk, because the more we slow this virus down Karl, the more we're able to support those who are most vulnerable. ABout 8 out of 10 people who contract this virus, most of us here are healthy, and others this will be a mild illness. But when we slow the rate of the virus down, by the way we interact, we're actually protecting more vulnerable people in our community.
ALLISON LANGDON: You're saying, you know, banning 500 people or more. I mean, you look at most schools, they've got more than 500 kids in them. These kids are then they’re close together. They make a home. They have, they interact with their grandparents. So we really do anybody's safest for the wide community by allowing schools to stay open?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me be clear. The medical advice from the chief officers of the health officers of the states and territories and the Commonwealth. I'm not recommending that we, universal wide closure of schools, where there are individual outbreaks in particular areas, as has been happening in New South Wales and in Victoria. There are arrangements that are put in place specifically for those schools. But schools won't be having, they've already taking the decisions rightly on the mass gatherings. Not having assemblies. Students will be in classrooms, not in large gatherings in their schools. The same should be practiced in university lecture theatres and things of that nature. So at the present time, the advice is that that is not necessary. And the other issue that relates to that is children, I should say, on the medical advice that those at the lower risk end for the entire population. And it's more of those who are at the elderly level, which are more at risk. But we also want to ensure that nurses can keep turning up to work and not have to be at home looking after their kids. That would also put great stress on the vulnerable if we weren't able to manage our public health workforce at the same time.
STEFANOVIC: As a parent, I have to say to you, PM, I find this confusing and I find it disturbing that it's almost okay for our kids to be in an area where there’s more than 500 kids they’re right next to each other at school. They go to big lunch or little lunch as we used to call it, and they’re surrounded by other kids. I don’t want my child to get this, OK? And so it is the only safe way to guarantee that that they they are put into isolation or at least at home while we wait this thing out?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that is not the medical advice Karl. You're not a doctor. And neither are am I. My my my kids go to school-
STEFANOVIC: But it doesn't make sense.
PRIME MINISTER: I trust the medical advice, if you let me finish Karl, I'm trusting the medical advice of those who are responsible for the public health of our nation. They don't consider these things idly, they consider them very carefully and what's in the public health interests of the nation. Now the working night and day to ensure they're giving us the best possible information. There are a lot of opinions at the moment and I'm interested in facts. And the facts are that the younger people in our population are actually less at risk. And there are great risks right now in school closures. That's the advice that we have. And so we have to make decisions that is in the national public interest and particularly for the most vulnerable, I’m a parent. You're a parent. We all have the same concerns and anxieties about the health of our kids. I don't think there's any competition about that. We all get that. But it means we have to stay calm and take the best possible advice. And that's what all the Premiers are doing. That's what the chief ministers are doing. That's what I'm doing. Now, this could change in the future, and if it does, it'll be because of a change in the medical situation. And we will continue to respond proportionately. But I'd urge people to stay calm on these things. We know how serious it is. There has never, ever been a National Cabinet that's been brought together to deal with a crisis like this. It is on the job and it's making decisions based on the best possible medical advice.
LANGDON: To move on from classrooms to the 14 day isolation period for travellers entering the country, which came into effect at midnight. I mean, we just saw some pictures this morning. I mean customs was packed. People were shoulder to shoulder standing for hours in line, isn't this exactly what we didn't want to see?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's unavoidable. We've got people coming back from overseas and they need to go in to self isolation-
STEFANOVIC: Well it can be avoided if you shut the borders.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we effectively have Karl. I mean, people have got to- Australians have got to come back from overseas. The biggest risk that has presented over the last few weeks has not been by internationals, because the global travel has been falling. It's actually been Australians coming home from overseas. I mean, take Bali, for example. People come - the number of Indonesians coming to Australia out of flights from Indonesia is less than 10 per cent. I mean, it's actually Australians going there and coming home, which presents the greatest health risk. That's why we've advised non-essential travel overseas should stop. And that's why when you're coming home from overseas, there'll be a 14 day isolation that applies to you and that's being backed up by state and territory laws. So these are strong measures, in fact they’re some of the strongest in the world. And that will ensure that we'll be able to again, if we slow the spread of this virus we will save more lives.
STEFANOVIC: Prime Minister, at the end of the day and look, I know this is very difficult. It's very difficult on every level to manage this, very hard. I worry about my mum. She's 70 plus. I worry about Dickie. He's a friend of mine who's now got the virus. And I worry about my kids getting it, irrespective of whether it's harder for them to get it or that they can handle it better. We just want to make sure everyone's safe as they can be. And do we not do not go that level and shut everything down?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the shutting down that is taking place Karl, it has never occurred before. That's what we're doing right now. What you're actually advocating is actually putting in place with the measures we put in on the weekend. And in particular, what the National Cabinet agreed was the priority is the, we'll be announcing further measures that relate to aged care facilities and enclosed spaces. And that's the work that's being done by the medical experts now, as well as the impact in the remote communities, which are also particularly vulnerable. That's the next priority they'll be giving us that advice, the national cabinet will meet again on Tuesday evening to consider that advice so people can expect more measures when it comes to visiting aged care facilities. We're also working on the advice that relates to Anzac Day ceremonies. We can expect those to be a lot smaller this year. And that's good practice. The other thing we're doing right now is obviously we'll be making changes for how parliament comes back next week. That will be done on a very different basis. And I'll be consulting with the Leader of the Opposition over the course of this week to put those arrangements in place very, very soon. And so it's about making practical decisions based on good advice and we’ve got ahead early on this. And we're working hard to try and keep ahead, but we've all got to keep our heads. And I know we've all got elderly parents we’ve got kids, we’ve got others who are affected. But remember this statistic, our advice is that about 8 out of 10 Australians who contract this virus will experience a mild illness. I mean, Peter Dutton, who has the virus, joined the National Security Committee meeting of Cabinet by videoconference yesterday. We've changed our meeting arrangements. So people are joining by videoconference. The world can continue to turn. I spoke with the Singaporean Prime Minister on the, last night. I was supposed to be meeting with him in Australia Sunday, Monday. We're now going to do that by video conferencing. We're going to sign one of our bilateral agreements digitally, so things can continue to work. Shops remain open. The power is still on. The phones still work. The buses still run, the trams still go. And so we can get about our daily lives as best as we can. But there will be changes. We'll try and telecast them as much as we can in advance so we can all adjust to them and get on with it.
LANGDON: But I assume that there is no way that you can all then meet in Canberra for parliament because then of course you go back to your own electorates and we just can't afford to see that kind of spread. But just in the last few moments, the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, he’s declared a state of emergency. So you know on one hand, we're saying everyone remain calm, but then we see action like this. You can understand why people are panicked?
PRIME MINISTER: A state of emergency is not a state of panic. A state of emergency puts in place special powers for state governments to help manage the spread of public health epidemics. Yesterday, it was an issue that was discussed by the state Premiers that they would be all moving effectively to that footing. Some states have been there for some time, such as in Queensland. So these actions are being coordinated between the states to put these measures in place so they're consistent across the country. I mean, one hundred years ago we had the Spanish flu. That is that is the sort of reference event. This is a one in a 100 year event. Back then, one of the things that went wrong is all the states and territories all fought with each other and didn't get on with each other. Now, on this occasion, I brought them together into a National Cabinet and we're all working extremely well together. So I would certainly caution people, words like state of emergency. I can understand that they're an anxious types of phrases. But what they're simply doing is giving the state governments the powers and authorities to help protect you, public health and to slow the spread of the virus.
STEFANOVIC: PM really good to talk to you. Thanks for all your info this morning. Appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Karl. Thanks, Ally.