Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Afternoon. I’m joined by our well-rested Chief Medical Officer, it's great to have you back. And thank you to Dr Kidd for the great work he did as acting officer in your stead.
National Cabinet has met today. We were pleased to receive an update from Premier McGowan regarding the bushfire situation in Western Australia. We're hopeful of a better day today. But obviously this is subject to events. Yesterday was a very difficult day. Confirmed about 81 homes that had been destroyed, affected, and that is terrible news for those who are impacted by that. And we still have many, many firefighters out there doing their job. It was also good to acknowledge the cooperation that occurs around these arrangements, particularly in terms of the aircraft, which is all part of the national system that is supported by Federal Government funding arrangements, but in particular the states and the assets they have, which are moved around in accordance with the process that has been established for some time and has been very effective.
Today at National Cabinet we received important briefings from Dr Kennedy from Treasury, the Reserve Bank Governor was appearing before the parliamentary committee, but Dr Kennedy was able to cover all those issues off, and there had already been a presentation from the governor this week, which was well-known to us all. As well as the usual updates from Professor Kelly, but also from Professor Skerritt, as well as Professor Murphy on the vaccines. And it was good to have those updates on both where the TGA approvals were at and the rollout programs and the preparations that are being done with states and territories.
The combination of those briefings reinforced a very important point. And that is, now that we're in 2021, the risk environment, or the risk matrix - as we spoke about it today - has shifted. It has altered. There are a range of new forces, new trends, new influences on that risk matrix that will require us, as a National Cabinet representing state and territory and, of course, the federal governments, about the policy implications of that changing environment. Now, the risk environment changes for a range of reasons. First of all, it changes because the strength of the systems that have been on display, particularly over this past month - that has so far averted that third wave in Australia - a month ago, when we went into that very quick response in Brisbane, there was much we hoped for, but at that point that was yet to be seen on the ground in terms of how the community responded, and how the system stood up. Now, the good news is a month on from that, as we've gone through, whether it’s what we've seen there or Victoria or New South Wales or other places, that hope was confirmed, and that gives us a lot more confidence, even more than we had at that point. So, the systems are better, the responses we're getting from the public - including in places like Western Australia, or Queensland, where there hadn't been those types of instances as regularly as we've seen in, say, New South Wales or Victoria, where they have been managed - and we were very pleased about that. So, that has a downward impact on the risk. But, equally, where we've seen new strains and other new information coming forward, that can increase the risk. And then, of course, there is the impact of the vaccine itself. And as we're reminded today, vaccines are one thing, vaccinations are another. It's vaccinations that actually change what is happening on the ground and the risk environment in which policy is set, and in which responses are made in response to events that can occur.
On vaccinations, there are two parts to it, and Professor Murphy will speak more to this. There is the very strong evidence with the vaccines that go to issues of serious disease and the prevention of serious disease, and we spoke about that here yesterday. Then there is the issue of a vaccination providing support to prevent transmission of the virus. That also has a very profound effect on the policy environment and the response and how we manage the virus going forward. Now, when you reduce significantly the impact on severe disease - and, indeed, fatalities that result from that severe disease - there is the potential that then the virus can, over time, be considered in a very similar way to other viruses that are in the community. And there are many, and, indeed, some of those viruses ultimately, for the very frail, can result in fatalities. So, the point is that the vaccination program, over months, as it's rolled out, can change the nature of how Australia then manages the virus. And the point was made, it's less than about cases as it is about presentations at ICU or seeking significant treatment. And that we can potentially move to a situation where we manage the virus potentially like other conditions that are in the community. Now, we're not there yet. We're some way off that, as Professor Kelly will tell you. But that risk environment is what we now, as leaders of governments, need to define, understand, and ensure that our responses to things that occur are proportionate - as we saw with the Victorian response just the other night, some modest changes for a brief period of time. As we saw when there were situations in the Northern Beaches of New South Wales, Queensland did not shut that border completely to New South Wales. Proportionate responses, where there is greater certainty of what that will be, which will feed into the certainty and confidence that enables Australians to move forward. Both socially and economically. And this ties in very importantly to what Dr Kennedy was saying. The significant measures that have been put in place, particularly by the Commonwealth Government, which is the overwhelming lion's share, backed up by supplementary measures from the states, of economic supports, they will all be more effective in a policy environment that creates greater certainty. And that is understood by premiers, chief ministers and I, and as a result we've tasked Secretary Gaetjens to work with the directors-general of all the other premiers and chief ministers' governments to report back to us as soon as possible, having considered the various options and implications of this changed risk environment, and what the implications of that can be for policy settings and responses, and over what time. Now, they will draw, no doubt, on the expert advice of the AHPPC and Professor Skerritt and Professor Murphy to help inform what those options can be. But, equally, they will draw, I'm sure, on their own economic experts at a state level as well as here at a federal level to best understand how that can impact on logistics and how markets operate, and how the employment sector can continue to grow, and what maximises the least disruption to that.
So, I think that was a very important conversation for us to have today. It's changing. We're going to better understand that change. And that can have changes for the way, positively, how we manage this pandemic going ahead into the future.
The other matters considered today: It was agreed once again that the return of Australian residents is the priority, in terms of arrivals to Australia. We must remember that our borders are actually shut. No-one can just come to Australia. To be able to come to Australia, you need to be an Australian resident or citizen, or have a particular exemption in a particular occupation or something of that nature, which is handled through Border Force, to enable someone to come. And that is only a small proportion of the arrivals that come to Australia.
It was also agreed that from 15 February, the caps will return to the previous levels for New South Wales and Queensland. So, we will see that capacity lift again. And I particularly want to thank both of those states for that. As we know, New South Wales has always done the biggest share of that lifting, but, I've gotta say, Queensland in recent times also has been above the odds in terms of the caps that they've been working to. And so we welcome that returning on the 15 February. South Australia is also increasing what they'll take to 530. Victoria will increase to 1,310. And Premier Andrews and I will be having further conversations about where it goes after that. And, of course, I'm still working through arrangements with Premier McGowan. They're obviously still working through some of the issues of this latest case, and so we just want to make sure that that's appropriately paced, about when they might be able to return to those previous caps in Western Australia.
The states are continuing to work to improve hotel quarantine around the country. There is a continuous program of principle that were set out by the AHPPC. It was good to receive the reports on how that is being implemented, whether it's the closed circuit TV within those facilities and how that's operating, taking into account some of these more recent information about airborne transmission. And Professor Kelly, I'm sure, can respond to that if you have any questions on that. But hotel quarantine is the primary, and remains the primary system for running quarantine in this country. It has been incredibly effective, as I said to you yesterday. Over 211,000 people have gone through that process, and the number of breaches we've had - albeit, when they do occur, they're serious - is incredibly small in comparison to that large volume. There isn't a country in the world, I suspect - bar a handful - who wouldn't want to trade places in terms of the issues that we manage here on COVID for the ones that they do. And our hotel quarantine system has been incredibly effective in protecting Australia over this period of time.
That said, of course, we continue to act on the recommendation of Jane Halton in relation to other facilities, which was the Howard Springs facility, which is what the former secretary Halton had recommended, and we have been following through and acting on that. And we are looking to expand the capacity further of Howard Springs. Already expanding it to 850, and potentially well beyond that, which would involve a more than doubling of that capacity at Howard Springs. We will also continue to assess the proposal in relation to Toowoomba. But we are still seeking a lot more information on that proposal, and the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has pulled together the various agencies that need to assess that proposal. And there is a lot more information we're going to need before we can get to an assessment of how we go forward on that. And it's not just about understanding what the costing arrangements, but it is understanding the workforce arrangements to run a facility like that and how that can be delivered in that location, what the impact is on other local health facilities in a regional location like that. I know that they are issues that locals have been raising, and we have got to be very mindful of that. So, we are acting on that recommendation of Jane Halton, and what we also realise is that the hotel quarantine system, which can continue to be improved - and we can continue to supplement it with other options - but that remains the way in which we will continue to facilitate arrivals back into Australia of Australian residents.
And with that, I'll pass you on to Professor Kelly.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you, PM. So, just briefly on the current Australian situation. As of midday today, there's been six new cases in the last 24 hours, all in hotel quarantine. No locally acquired cases continuing that very positive trend.
Just to pick up on the PM's view there that we should be thinking beyond cases but to the effect, the serious effects of the disease, there's only 9 people in hospital in Australia right now. And recognising that some of those are in hospital because that is the way that positive cases are dealt with in a couple of the jurisdictions. There's very few people that are seriously sick. In fact, virtually none. There's no-one in intensive care, and we haven't seen a death in Australia from COVID for some months. Contrast that with other countries, in the week up to the 3 February, I spoke to National Cabinet today about that, in the US they had over 1 million cases in that week, and over 20,000 deaths. We are in a very different situation. We have been all along, and that is - a lot of that is to do with the strength of our hotel quarantine systems and our border controls. So, we continue to have a good situation here. In the last week, up to the 3rd of February, we only had 42 cases overall. All but two of those were overseas-acquired, and the other two, as we know, as has been reported in WA and now in Victoria in quarantine workers.
So, it's a very different situation. We also talked today about the variants of concern, and the Australian and New Zealand experience in relation to that. And again that's a very different situation to what we've seen with that extra - that increased transmissibility of the virus in other settings. So, in the UK, in the US, in South Africa, we've seen those variants that have cropped up in those countries, but are now spreading in other parts of the world, to cause major concerns in terms of the epidemiology of the disease. Here in Australia, we've had cases - not of the Brazilian strain yet, but certainly the South African-originating strain, B1.351. We've had 15 cases of that. We've had 76 cases of the UK strain, UK strain B117. Both of those are more transmissible. We've had only two of those cases out of that entire group have been in the community. They've both been in quarantine workers. So, up to the 3rd of January. And then there's one extra one now.
So, we've seen the South African strain in New Zealand and how that has emerged from their quarantine setting. Again, with the very strong public health response in New Zealand, as we've seen in Queensland, as we're seeing right now in WA and in Victoria, it's come under control. It's a very different setting. So, we have the virus which is more transmissible, but very different settings here in Australia, and indeed in New Zealand, in terms of the public health response, other responses, as we've seen in different states have been slightly different, but that public health response has been important, and the response of the community. So, we've seen again in WA, who haven't seen cases for many, many months, when the community has been asked to wear masks, they wear masks. When people are asked to go and get tested in WA, in a few days they went from 500 tests a day to over 17,000 tests in a day. Extraordinary response. And that's an incredible, wonderful thing for the community to be responding like that, but it's the key to these variants for us. It's getting on to it quickly, dealing with it quickly. The response from the community also reflecting that. And that makes us, as the PM has said, much more comfortable with those variants at the moment. But, of course, we need to continue to learn from these issues.
Quarantine, as the PM has mentioned, we discussed. There is absolutely a need to continually improve the quality of our quarantine. It is already really top-class. We've seen only a small number of incursions from quarantine, and we need to understand these are complex systems with humans, and there is always an opportunity or a chance of human error. There is also chance issues like two doors opening across a corridor, as has seemed to have occurred in the Victorian situation. So, we do need to continue to look at these things. At the National Cabinet, I think it was a month ago, I think it might have been earlier, a set of general principles were agreed. We can look at those again to make sure all of those things are being done. But the system has worked very effectively up to now, and continues to work very effectively. And it's a range of matters, not only the variants of concern, but the way people move, the way people are working within those environments, and a range of measures that we can do to continually improve that. And we're absolutely going to do that and give our health advice from the AHPPC into this new group that the PM has mentioned.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I listened carefully to what you were saying about Steven Kennedy, and it's a bit unclear as to what you've actually asked him to do. What is the problem that you've asked him to solve?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven’t asked Steven Kennedy anything, I've asked Philip Gaetjens.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, he was chairing a group looking into the DGs, wasn't he?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: OK, sorry. Wrong fella. What's the problem you're trying to solve, talking to the various DGs?
PRIME MINISTER: What I've asked Secretary Gaetjens to do is to lead a process with the directors-general of all the state and territory governments to advise us on how the risk environment has changed in relation to the management of the pandemic, taking into account all the factors I've mentioned - the new strains that are emerging, improvements that have been made in how things are managed both on a testing, tracing, quarantine system improvement and public response, and thirdly the impact of the vaccines on the risk environment. And to advise us how we can have any change to the policy settings of the response to how we manage the pandemic. Now, that can include any number of things. That can potentially, over many months, can include how we respond to a breakout of a case. Now, right now, a breakout of a case has a particular context. Three months from now, when vaccinations are occurring, where there is a downward pressure on the risk of serious, serious illness, then the risk is different. And so it is about trying to recalibrate. I'm asking them to advise us how we recalibrate the risk settings on what our responses are.
JOURNALIST: Is it the impulse to close borders that you want to better manage?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I want to understand the risk settings better so we can better manage the pandemic and ensure our economy can grow and Australians can return to as normal life as possible.
JOURNALIST: As the vaccine starts to be rolled out, Prime Minister, and the vaccination rates increase, obviously perhaps the load on hotel quarantine will be reduced. But in that case, do you then look at home quarantine, on-farm, these other so-called bespoke options?
PRIME MINISTER: All these things I think become more possible, Mark. But they have to be assessed in terms of what the new risk environment is. Now, those things weren't possible last year. Mind you, on-farm quarantine is for seasonal workers, and that's proving quite effective up in Queensland. But one of the reasons why we did hotel quarantine was because we didn't consider home quarantine was effective enough in the risk environment we had. Now, over the next three, six, nine months, that could change based on all of these things that are impacting on what's happening here. Now, Australia, though, I suspect will be ahead of the world in our risk environment, as we already are right now, and that may enable us to do some things that they can't do in other places. I mean, New Zealand, I think, will be in a fairly similar place. Their vaccinations start some time after ours do, but largely I think we're looking at a pretty similar outlook.
I'll just move around.
JOURNALIST: PM, is essentially, sticking with Mr Gaetjens' work, is it essentially a path to normality, return to the new normal, what will be, you know, and less disruption for people and things like that?
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: Is that essentially the work you're asking him to do?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. And to get an understanding. They will be able to present us with some options that will be relevant in various stages of how that risk environment changes over time. But I do want to stress, while there has been some really good developments in terms of lowering that risk, there is also the negative developments in terms of new strains and what can be happening overseas. We can be doing really well, but overseas things can continue to be quite difficult, and so, you know, we've just got to take that all into account. But I'm simply saying that, over the last month, things have changed, and we think the focus, the shift of the risk is there and so we need to fully understand what options does that give us in the months ahead.
JOURNALIST: Would your hope be that all states all follow the same rules? So essentially it's one national play book? We get a case in Brisbane and everyone reacts the same way?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, ultimately you'd hope so. But, I mean, that's not to say that there could be some small variants to that. What's important is increased certainty about what happens, when event X happens, what is the response going to be? So, businesses can understand what's happening, employees can understand what's happening. This is a key factor that Dr Kennedy and others have consistently raised. You know, we have been able, from the Commonwealth's perspective, to transfer over $250 billion on to the balance sheets of householders and businesses in this country. Now, in many respects, as he was noting today and as I have noted to you, and the Treasurer has, unlocking that, because you know the savings rate has increased, that is the key to the further waves of support in the economy - is unlocking that. And he talked about a consumption-led recovery in the weeks and months ahead, and that's reflected in what we've seen in the uptick in retail sales and building approvals and things like that. So, unlocking the support will continue to drive those further waves of improvement in our economy. And confidence, as Chris Richardson often says, is the cheapest form of stimulus there is. And you can improve that confidence, I think, with greater certainty about responses.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned before that Australia could do things differently that other countries might not be able to do under this risk environment. What are some of those examples? What do you want to see, in your vision, happen to Australia once the vaccine rolls out?
PRIME MINISTER: It's too soon for that and it's not right for me to speculate. What we need to do first is properly inform ourselves of how the risk environment has changed, and what flexibility that gives us in the future. So, let's just do it one step at a time. That's how we have been so successful to date. We don't get ahead of ourselves, we don't speculate, we don't lead people on, we don't raise their hopes unnecessarily. What we do is do the work, and that's what's going to happen now on what is a new phase we've already entered.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Australia has fairly well-developed plans to roll out vaccines across the region, but there are also other countries, particularly China, which are seeking to get their vaccines into places like Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands and so forth. What would you say about our approach compared to those of other countries in terms of actually getting those vaccines out into the community? And, also, what do you make of a proposal by a Chinese company to build a large mega-city across the Torres Strait?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll make two points. What we're doing in the Pacific is we’re not competing with anyone. We're just trying to help our Pacific family as best as we possibly can. When I told them this week that we would be spending $200 million across the Pacific to support their vaccination rollout and programs and as you know, we have been able to secure 150 million doses, which puts us in a very strong position off our own resource to be able to support those vaccinations, not just in the south-west Pacific but also across South-East Asia, where we're investing about $300 million, or thereabouts, to support that programme. One of the things the Pacific family said to me of leaders, was the great respect they have for our Therapeutic Goods Administration. And what I have said is I want to make sure that, particularly in the Pacific and developing countries of our region, that they get the best dose, they get a dose in Indonesia, would be my preference, in Papua New Guinea, in Samoa or any of these places, which is as good as the dose that my kids will get, or I'll get, or my family will get. That's very important. And they trust Australia's approval processes and regulation processes. So, I think that creates a natural preference in those countries, that if our TGA has given it the tick, then they're feeling a lot more confident about the jab. And I think that's a credit to our TGA. Look, on the other matter, I think that's very speculative at this point. I have a very close relationship with Prime Minister Marape, as I've had with previous prime ministers in Papua New Guinea. We regularly discuss the various pressures in our region, and I think we're very much on the same page about those issues.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned though that Chinese companies are sort of going out there and trying this sort of thing...
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not surprised by it, but I think at this stage it would be best to file it under speculation.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Prime Minister, so when the vaccine is rolled out widely by later this year, will our risk tolerance need to inevitably increase so that, for example, the goal of zero daily cases, or putting entire cities of millions of people down into lockdown from a handful of cases will not necessarily be sustainable, we'll need to learn to live with this virus?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know if I quite describe it that way. What I'm saying is that the risk environment is reducing. So, even at the same tolerance level, more things can be done, because the risk has declined because of the various things that are being done to achieve that very outcome. What it means is, I mean, if I take you back to March last year, as we stared into that abyss both from a health point of view and economically, we were extremely concerned about tens of thousands of Australians dying. Now, we don't have those concerns now. We are not concerned about the overrun of our emergency departments or ICUs. We're not concerned about that. We are still concerned about people, particularly those most vulnerable, suffering severe disease that can result in fatality. But the vaccinations will certainly address that. And that means that, ultimately, with vaccinations the virus can present a similar risk to many other viruses that are already out there in the community. And we know what our tolerance for that is right now. So, I'm not making any comparison between those at this point. But what we want to understand is the potential for us to reach that point. And so you're right - once you get to that stage, the number of cases isn't the issue. I mean, we don't stand up every day and talk about the number of cases of any other virus, flu or others, every day. That's not to say that those viruses don't result in ultimately fatality for vulnerable people either. They do. But we manage that a different way to the way we're currently managing this pandemic. So, I think it is about how those two lines come back together. Just as an aside, can I say one line we were very happy to see coming together in our reports today is that the calls to 1800 RESPECT on domestic and family violence, for the first time we've seen in a very long time we've seen what we had on the previous 12 months start to come back together to what we've seen more historically. I welcome that. I'm sure we all do. And I hope that continues. But as we agreed all today, whether those lines are together or apart, they're all still too high. And it was a reminder today that there are many things we have to work on as a National Cabinet, not just the vaccine, and family and domestic violence is very high on our list, as is mental health.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned a proportionate response and being happy to see that…
PRIME MINISTER: The what, sorry?
JOURNALIST: A proportionate response to outbreaks, mentioning New South Wales and Victoria.
PRIME MINISTER: Yep. And Queensland.
JOURNALIST: Looking back now to the beginning of the week, do you consider WA's response proportionate? Would you be happy with a response similar happening in the future? And on quarantine, WA's quarantine situation, was that discussed? Because on Tuesday, McGowan made some comments saying that, well, technically, quarantine is a federal responsibility as in the constitution, in response to Minister Dutton's criticism. Was any of that canvassed?
PRIME MINISTER: Not really, no. There's a lot that’s sort of reported in papers in the lead-up to National Cabinet, and then National Cabinet proves to be quite a constructive and collegiate meeting. Of course, we talk about quarantine facilities and how we’re running them and the improvements being made, of course we talk about the vaccines and their rollout and work through issues of that nature. But I've got to say, I mean, the Premier had made comments last year about whether we should be using places like Christmas Island and things like that. And our advice has been very consistent, that those are not conducive to the task. That's why we're at Howard Springs. I mean, the national resilience facility there, as it's called, that was the response to what Jane Halton recommended, and we put that in place. And we're looking to expand it. And, you know, we're not averse to other options as well. But they've got to be able to stack up. And they're always a supplement. They're not a replacement. That's what I want to be very clear about, the things that we're doing nationally are to supplement, because- and that's why our charter flights go through that facility. And that takes the pressure off what's happening in the states themselves. Getting other Australians back into the country. So, it's an additional capacity. It's not a replacement capacity. And, look, countries around the world are now putting in place our system in other countries. And others will argue whether that should have been done earlier. Well, we did do it earlier - March last year - and look where we are today.
JOURNALIST: And has WA's response been proportionate, in your view?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've maintained that over the course of the week. I mean, but again we've learned - I mean, the risk in Western Australia when this happened - and thankfully, again, no cases, great - same was true in Brisbane. The difference between Brisbane and Perth, and Victoria and New South Wales, is Victoria and New South Wales have dealt with cases and we were very confident about how Victorians and New South Wales residents would respond to things of this nature, and come out and get tested, and, you know, the very strong registration system, of course, in New South Wales. And all of that. So, we knew their systems were very good. And, equally, you know, both Western Australia and Queensland hadn't had as much game time for their systems, with their contact tracing and things like that, as the other states had. But what's been proved to be the case over the course of the last few days, whether it was Western Australia or, indeed, Queensland earlier in the piece, they stood up. So, we would hope that next time there wouldn't be such a need. Because they know their systems work.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we've seen the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific in Fiji essentially detained and then deported as well. This is an institution which has been described as a pillar of the Pacific. It's also an institution that you've spoken at, and it's also one that Australia's poured a substantial amount of money in over time. Has Australia expressed any concerns to the government of Fiji about this action? What were the nature of the concerns expressed, if they were? And do you view it as a blow to Pacific regionalism?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, there have been a number of issues in relation to the University of South Pacific, which has been the topic of much discussion among Pacific leaders and Pacific countries. I'm not going to say anything here that would seek to add to or seek to complicate that. We'll continue to work through those issues through the normal diplomatic channels.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this week you drew a line in the send with Craig Kelly's comments. Liberal Senator Gerald Rennick says he is unsure if he will get the vaccine because he is too young to get sick. Do those comments undermine the government's efforts to get Australians vaccinated? And can you explain what the threshold is for free speech on this issue?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I think I can best answer that question, that the comments you have attributed to Senator Rennick, he has advised me this morning that that's not what he said. So there's not much more I can say about that given the premise of the question Senator Rennick disputes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you suggesting that it is an inaccurate,
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?
JOURNALIST: That the report by news.com.au is inaccurate? Surely it’s, if they’re direct quotes,
PRIME MINISTER: Well all I can tell you is what Senator- all I can tell you is what Senator Rennick has told me.
JOURNALIST: What did he tell you?
PRIME MINISTER: He told me that that was not, did not reflect his view.
JOURNALIST: And are you concerned that Craig Kelly has resumed posting about COVID treatments on social media since your chat?
PRIME MINISTER: I've seen a report about that and I don't think it represents the type of thing that is being suggested but my position is the same - I think a little less on that front is helpful.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can you give us any indication how big the activity at Toowoomba could be under the plan that’s being discussed, would it be perhaps similar to Howard Springs and what would the costs to the Commonwealth be?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we don't know about the costs, because there is no indication of what the costs are. That's one of the many things that needs to be spelt out and clarified as part of the proposal. I'd describe the proposal, at this stage, as a very - as an outline and there is a lot more to fill in. We are keen to do that, with the proponents and with the Queensland Government and look forward to working with them on that. I know locally concerns have been expressed, that what does this mean for local health services, and the local community. Fair questions. And we’ll just have to work through those. And we worked through those up in Howard Springs as well I should note. But Howard Springs is close to Darwin, which is a different proposition to what Toowoomba is. So none of these circumstances are exactly alike but we're looking at it on its merits and not opposed in principle to things of this nature. By our very actions up in Howard Springs, we’ve demonstrated that. But we have got to look at what the relative merits are of how we expand those types of capacities. And we know that there is a lot more capacity that we can realise up at Howard Springs. That may prove to be a far more effective way to achieve that given that you're bringing in charter flights then if you're adding to an existing facility in an existing place, then you're also not exposing new areas of health risk you are actually just keeping it focused where you’ve been able to demonstrate you can maintain and manage that risk.
JOURNALIST: Did any of the Premiers lobby you to extend JobKeeper and were there any fireworks during National Cabinet about who takes in how many international arrivals and hotel quarantine caps?
PRIME MINISTER: No, there were no fireworks. I mean, honestly, we're professional leaders of governments. We get on with the job as people would expect us to do. And I, to be honest, I think some of the dramatisation of these things in the lead-up to these meetings is a bit overstated and I think probably the public understands that. We take these issues really seriously and we work together constructively to achieve the outcomes we have achieved together. Which is Australia, in the leading bunch of countries of the world, both economically and from a health perspective. That is a shared achievement of all of us. But, most importantly, by the Australian people, who we serve. When it comes to - what was the other, first point you raised?
JOURNALIST: Did any of the premiers lobby you to extend JobKeeper?
PRIME MINISTER: On JobKeeper they received the same advice from Dr Kennedy that I had and that is the schedule for transition on JobKeeper should be maintained. And they, we had, I wouldn't say much of a discussion but we've always made it clear as a government that where there is tailored, proportionate, targeted assistance that we can provide together with the states, because I note again that - I mean, New South Wales and Victoria, I'd say, have had a particularly large fiscal response. Other states have been not at that level. Proportionally, a state like Tasmania has made a very large fiscal response. Other states have been different. States we noted are in a bit more of a flexible position in terms of providing more tailored localised supports, for example, under our tax system we can't discriminate between one part of the country and another. States are less constrained than the federal government. So I think what we resolved was where you can and need to provide additional support in particular areas then you need to do it in concert with each other. And it wouldn't be a matter of just one side of government - ie federal government. I mean we have put in $251 billion worth of fiscal support into the Australian economy on to the balance sheets of Australian’s households, families and businesses. That is more than double the combined fiscal support of all the states and territories put together. So I think we're doing our fair share.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, back on the risk profile that you talk about. Can you envisage a circumstance where Australians who get the vaccine don't have to then do two weeks in hotel quarantine? I'm thinking about you're going to get a jab, hopefully go and visit Joe Biden in Washington. When you come back, is there a circumstance where you don't have to then do two weeks of isolation?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm going to ask Professor Kelly to speak to that but at this stage, the answer is quarantine continues until further notice.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: I think ‘yes’, is the answer to that. The main issue is although we've had some preliminary evidence over the last few days in relation to the AstraZeneca vaccine, so it does appear that it does actually influence transmission, we don't have that sort of evidence at the moment for Pfizer or Moderna or any of the others that are in the transition towards being used in other countries. So, at the moment, that two-week quarantine in hotels as has been so successful up till now remains regardless of vaccination.
JOURNALIST: Is there a proven theory at all of the percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated before you can change the settings?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Certainly, that will feed into the Phil Gaetjens group the PM has mentioned. That's a very key point, actually. What mix of vaccines, how many vaccines, in which parts of the community and how that affects it. I mean, to be very clear, we're starting - we've got our prioritisation settings we've talked about many times at this podium and others which is looking at those at most risk of exposure. At the moment that's our quarantine workers and anyone working in that stream from airports through to people being cared for in hospital in relation to the borders. They're the ones at most high-risk of exposure and those that are at most risk of severe disease, which is our older Australians, particularly those in aged care facilities, health care workers as well are in that set. That’s our number one priority, we’ll start with those and that will really change that conversation about if we're looking to mainly make sure that people aren't getting severe disease, mainly not dying from COVID-19, that changes a whole range of things and that's where this committee will be really important.
PRIME MINISTER: Last question. Then I have to go.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, who in your mind has primary responsibility for hotel quarantine? Is it you or is it the premiers and the chief ministers?
PRIME MINISTER: The states run hotel quarantine consistent with the public health orders that are in place with each of their states and territories. That was the decision we made last March. And that was also made after having advised how the federal biosecurity laws work. And so, that's why it was agreed that that was the most effective way of putting that into place and it has been extremely effective.
Thanks very much.