Prime Minister
Prime Minister: Good morning, Sabra.
Sabra Lane: This Budget is banking on everyone who wants a COVID vaccine getting one by the end of the year. So is the Government now guaranteeing that deadline?
Prime Minister: No, there's assumptions in the Budget. But as we've said repeatedly, we're working hard to get that first dose to all Australians as soon as possible. And when we're able to get a further understanding of how this will play out, well, we are updating people every day on how we're progressing the vaccine. We’ll hit around about three million people having been vaccinated soon. We've already got over 10 per cent of the eligible adult population that is vaccinated and a third of those aged over 70. So we'll keep progressing through that. But what is going to guarantee what's in this Budget is Australians continue to getting in jobs. That's what is actually sitting behind this Budget, backing Australians to get people into jobs and to get the businesses to be investing in this country. That's what this Budget is relying on.
Lane: We'll dig into more of that shortly. But if that deadline is not met, or people continue to hesitate about getting the vaccine, will that undermine Australia's economic recovery?
Prime Minister: No. I think what we will see, though, Sabra, is that we'll continue to make progress with the vaccination program. I mean, what we're seeing at the moment, and you're right to point out that this is a pandemic Budget. We are in the midst of a raging pandemic and all the health measures that we're putting in place to support the health of Australians are critical to our success. But the real issue that is keeping Australia's economy moving ahead in the way it is at the moment is we are not allowing the virus to come into this country. I mean, that is what has ensured that over the past 18 months we've been more successful than almost any other developed country in the world. I mean, Europe is going into a double dip recession. The strength of the jobs growth we've seen has become about by protecting Australia from the incursion of the virus into this country and border protection and keeping our borders closed has been critical to that.
Lane: There’s $68 billion in new government spending, much of that is on aged care and mental health and tax cuts. When will you explain to taxpayers how some of this debt’s going to be paid off?
Prime Minister: Well, what we see at the moment is the Reserve Bank Governor has advised for a long time with borrowing rates where they are at the moment it gives the Government the opportunity to step in to ensure that during the pandemic we can keep our economy whole, keep doing what's working, ensuring that more Australians are getting into work. Let's not forget that there's 500,000 people more employed than they were when we did the Budget just in October of last year. And there are 200,000 more employed than we thought would be the case at the end- in December of last year. I mean, we have more people employed now, 13.1 million Australians employed today, than they were before when the pandemic hit in March of last year. There are few developed economies in the world, Sabra, that can actually say they're in that position. So getting people in jobs, Sabra, is what restores the Budget because people go from taking support payments to paying taxes. That's how we brought the Budget back to balance before we went into the pandemic.
Lane: But to the point of the question, when and how will you explain to taxpayers how that debt will be paid off?
Prime Minister: Well, I was just doing that, Sabra. What we're doing is we're growing the economy by getting Australians to invest, by getting Australians into jobs. The way you actually support a Budget is by ensuring that there are taxpayers in the economy. You don't have taxpayers if you don't have people in jobs. And that's why this Budget has to focus in the middle of a pandemic, when monetary policy is basically spent, when you've got global borders shut because of the raging pandemic all around the world, which is worse today than it was a year ago. So the suggestion, the suggestion that somehow you might open up to that raging pandemic now, I think would be one of the worst things you could do for our economy. And so we have to continue to strengthen our economy. I mean, we've seen the results of what we've done to date and we need to go further and that's what we are doing in this Budget to ensure we get more Australians into work. That's why this Budget is so focused on getting people in jobs.
Lane: On aged care, the past is a good indication of future performance. The Government has struggled to meet demand for aged care home packages and now you're promising 80,000 new packages during the next two financial years. How will you make sure those are actually delivered, including appropriately qualified staff to care for older Australians?
Prime Minister: Well, I think that is one of the great challenges, and that's what was highlighted in the Royal Commission. And we've always understood, that's why at every single Budget update for years now, we've added more and more and more in-home care places.
Lane: Sure, but how will you guarantee it? You’ve struggled to meet that.
Prime Minister: By investing in the… we’ve been adding an additional 1,000 places every week now for months. And we've been doing that because we've been supporting it with the funding that ensures this can be delivered. But a huge part of the aged care package is continuing investing in creating the workforce, some 30,000, 30,000 skilled places to get the workforce we need. Now, our response to the Aged Care Royal Commission, I think is a responsible one. It's over five years and it's understood that the scale of change that we're doing, you cannot do overnight. The system won't cope with it. And you can put people at real risk. Our focus here is very important that Australians can age with dignity and respect. That's what these changes are designed to achieve. And the governance reforms, how the funding is delivered, the oversight that is there for the condition and all of those measures are there to back in what is an enormous investment to really start improving a system that has taken 30 years, 30 years. That's what the Royal Commission was talking about. The problems we're dealing with go back a long time and many governments have wrestled with this and we're certainly addressing ourselves to this so Australians can age with dignity and respect.
Lane: And the Government is talking about beefing up governance of the sector. What will happen to the providers who fail to meet new standards?
Prime Minister: Well, the same thing that has happened for those as the Commissioner has brought down reports and ultimately, they could lose their ability to operate in the sector. But what we've been focusing on in this Budget-
Lane: But that just hasn’t happened in the past, Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: No, it has actually, Sabra, it has. But what is important is that we focus on ensuring we've got a viable-
Lane: Sorry, Prime Minister, we’ve had inquiry after inquiry. Australia got into this position where the Royal Commission found that there was a situation of neglect in the sector. That didn't happen.
Prime Minister: It is the case that on many occasions the sanctions that have been handed down by the Commission and acted upon it resulted in very serious sanctions to operators. That is true. But what we're doing is beefing up the capacity for the cop on the beat in this sector to be able to do their job. I don't deny that there aren’t serious problems here, Sabra, I think there are very serious problems. That's why I called the Royal Commission and that's why we've responded with $17.7 billion to ensure that we can address the quality issues, the training issues, the workforce issues, the governance issues, to ensure that with the care issues, the 200 minutes a day for each and every resident, of the home care places to give people choices. I said in the Parliament yesterday that our population aged over 65 has grown since we first came to government by just under a quarter. The real increase in funding, even just to now without these changes, is over 50 per cent. It's almost 200 per cent when it comes to what we put into in-home aged care places. So the challenge is huge. That is true. The demand has been great, but our funding and support into the sector has been increasing well above the growth in the population that depends on these services for many years.
Lane: The suicide prevention goal is zero. When do you want to achieve that by?
Prime Minister: Well, I think this is a goal that all Australians would want to achieve and we know how difficult it is and you can have no other goal than that, Sabra. You can have no other goal than that. We're realistic about the nature of this challenge. But how can you have a policy in this area where that is not what you're trying to achieve with any country. Whether any government, whether any society can achieve that, I think is incredibly difficult. But I can tell you, that's the goal that we should have as a country that does not want to see Australians die by suicide.
Lane: A billion dollars has been set aside for frontline services to help victims of family violence. That's over four years. Those agencies argue that there's a need for that kind of money each year. If you hear at the July summit that this money is not enough, will you commit to reviewing that?
Prime Minister: Well, you're right to say that the national plan that we've been involved with, going back to- it was first initiated by Julia Gillard, has seen states and territories work together with the Commonwealth to deliver these services to. Our Government has put a billion-
Lane: And the point of the question, sorry, Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: I'm getting to that, Sabra. We’ve put a billion dollars into that plan already, and last night we've doubled that. So we've gone for a billion dollars and up until now and we're putting in another billion dollars on top of that. So when we get together with the states and territories and fashion the next agenda on women's safety, then we've already put a lot there on the table. But we will always work in a bipartisan way with the states and territories to make sure we're addressing the issue of women's safety and children's safety, too, I would stress. And so we've demonstrated our ability to do that and meet the challenges that are there and to respond to the need that is there. Whether it's helping women go through the justice system or migrant or refugee women who can be terrible victims of violence and coercion and abuse, that's what this package deals with. And we will work with the states and territories to address the need, as the Commonwealth Government always has with the states and territories. No politics there, shouldn't be. This is about the safety of women and indeed of children.
Lane: Prime Minister, we're out of time. Thank you.
Prime Minister: Thanks a lot, Sabra. Thanks for your time.