Prime Minister
TRACY GRIMSHAW: Prime Minister, thank you for your time. You covered a lot of ground today but I think vaccines are the topic that most people are interested in so let's really talk about those. Once the vaccine roll out starts in Australia, how is life going to change for us here?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we shouldn't expect an immediate change. I mean, what we know is that from the end of February, at this point, we'll be able to start vaccinating those in the most sensitive areas, those most vulnerable, those frontline health workers in particular. And then over the course of the year, we expect to get through the population by October. What that means is people will be protected against severe disease. It means that, you know, we won't see those terrible cases where people go if they get the virus to its worst effect. We still don't know at this point to the extent at which it stops transmission. That doesn't mean it doesn't. It just means that it's too soon from the evidence that we have. And so that means once you get the vaccine, it doesn't mean you can immediately go and fly overseas or things like that. That may well prove to be the case over time. But initially, it's a matter of protecting our most vulnerable and those working with our most vulnerable.
GRIMSHAW: Okay so there are a couple of points out of that and it, you know that’s a valid point that you raise, last March and April, when we were coming to grips with this pandemic, we were told that life wouldn’t return to normal until we had a vaccine and now you know we’re hearing that we’ll still need to socially distance, we’ll still need to be careful, we’ll have to wash our hands, no international travel, quarantine continues, so what now is the path back to normal? If it’s not a vaccine, what?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it still will be a vaccine. That's not what I'm saying, that it won't be. It's just the vaccine at this stage is in its early phases and its full effects on whether it stops the virus transmitting from one person to another is not yet clear. And if that proves to be the case, and that will be quite transformational. But in the first case, what it means is even where you may have outbreaks, that we won't see the legions of those who lose their lives to this virus or experience terrible and severe illness.
GRIMSHAW: To wipe out the virus, we need herd immunity and we need that to be delivered by vaccines and herd immunity most people agree is reached at about 80 per cent of the population, our main vaccine will be the Astrazeneca one which is not yet approved, but it’s not claiming to have 80 per cent effectiveness? So how do we get to herd immunity with a vaccine, our predominant vaccine not offering herd immunity?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, herd immunity we will work towards over the course of the year. The AstraZeneca vaccine will only be approved if the TGA says so and it will be done so to achieve its purpose. So I’ll have great confidence in that should the TGA move to that next step. But you make a good point about us producing vaccines here in Australia. We took that decision, it was last August, because we knew there would be great strains on the production of vaccines from other countries and their supply chains could get very seriously compromised. But what it does mean is once AstraZeneca is approved, and we're very confident about that, then being able to produce it here in Australia with a sovereign manufacturing capability puts us in a much stronger position.
GRIMSHAW: I’m sure you’re staying very close to that TGA assessment process, I mean what sort of timeframe are you thinking that you know that will happen?
PRIME MINISTER: We think it will be soon, but I don't want to pre-empt that. I mean, one of the reasons why I can say to Australians is to get vaccinated, because I can say it will be safe and it will be effective because that's what the TGA is doing. Australians over the course of the last year have bought us valuable time. And that means that we're not in the same place as all those other countries in the world who are in desperate situations and that's why they are rushing in the way that they are. They have no choice and they're seeking to do that as safely as they can.
GRIMSHAW: Part of the reason why we haven’t had the kind of outbreaks and the sort of numbers that they have had around the world is because we’re an island and you closed our borders, so we are pretty much hermetically sealed largely from the rest of the world, but Australians want to travel and people- Australians overseas want to come home and they want to feel free to travel again, they want that normality and they want to see a way that that will happen. What will be the triggers for that to happen?
PRIME MINISTER: I think one of the key things will be a vaccine that prevents transmissibility. I want all the same things that you've just talked about, Tracy, for Australia and we are getting Australians home, we've had over 450,000 have made their way back to Australia over the course of the last year. And so we do want to get Australians back, but we have to manage this as best we can. If anything, the pandemic isn't slowing down. It's speeding up. But Australia, we’ve built good defences and a key part of those defences is the international borders and that's why they remain important for now.
GRIMSHAW: I spoke with Qantas boss Alan Joyce at the end of last year and he thought that things like the rapid antigen testing would be game changers and would become more commonly used in Australia and he thought that maybe this year quarantine would be reduced from maybe 14 days to 5 days, is any of that likely?
PRIME MINISTER: You know we put those questions forward all the time, Tracy and until we can get a clear medical view that that is a safe thing to do, then it wouldn’t be responsible to do it. I've always said from the outset of this, we have to save lives, we’ve got to save livelihoods as well. And whether it's been JobKeeper or the support we’ve put in to businesses with cashflow assistance, keeping people in jobs, the job hiring credit, which claims can start today for younger Australians. All of that is there to get Australians through. 90 per cent of the jobs are back. The comeback in Australia has already begun and is gathering momentum. But you're right to say that the vaccination programme is a very foundational part of us continuing that journey this year.
GRIMSHAW: Anyone in Australia who relies on international tourism whether they work for airlines or hotels or resorts or they’re travel agents, they are going to need ongoing support aren’t they? From some sort of JobKeeper programme?
PRIME MINISTER: The Australian economy cannot be run on taxpayers money forever. I mean, JobKeeper and these programmes have been unprecedented and we've got to be mindful of the burden we place on future generations with our recovery. Now, we have delivered additional support in things like the travel agent sector. And then we'll work, and we'll continue working with the tourism sector to assist them as they adjust through what is a difficult period.
GRIMSHAW: PM is, you seemed to indicate today that there might, there may be supply issues with the Pfizer vaccine? You said that the commencement of rollout in Australia will depend on developments overseas, what did you mean exactly?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've all seen some of the disruptions to the supply of those vaccines coming out of Europe, and that is not impacting on Australia at this point. But what I've learnt through this entire process and what we know through this entire crisis is things can change and they can change quickly. So I'm just being careful with Australians to be very up front with them. I mean, our purchase arrangements compared to what's happening in Europe where people are dying in their thousands every day. And let's just understand that. I mean, that is a very significant global problem, not just there, but in many parts of the world. Now, in Australia that's not occurring.
GRIMSHAW: Alright you also said today that our relationship with China will need communication at Minister and leader level, are you actively pursuing that?
PRIME MINISTER: We've always been actively pursuing that opportunity, but we're not seeking it in any sort of subservient way on the basis of contemplating concessions. We're very open to a dialogue, as we always have been with China.
GRIMSHAW: Does China want a relationship?
PRIME MINISTER: Australia's sovereignty is what matters at the end of it.
GRIMSHAW: Understood, does China want a relationship with us that isn’t subservient?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's not really a question to me, but that's the only relationship that will work. We all need to engage as equals and and respect each other's sovereignty and independence. And Australia will always be very clear about what is in our national interests and China will be clear about what is in theirs. We're interested in trade, but we never we never trade our values or our principles.
GRIMSHAW: Okay thanks for your time PM.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Tracy. Great to be with you.