Prime Minister
JIM WILSON: And in a very positive move, Scott Morrison has listened. Now, today's major economic announcement is welcome news, and the Prime Minister joins me on the line. PM, welcome back to Drive.
PRIME MINISTER: G'day, Jim. Yeah, I wish it was better news today, but I think we were all probably expecting that a bit today. But, it's still pretty brutal.
WILSON: Well, you've announced more financial support. Good on you. Ok, so in simple terms for all of my listeners this afternoon, what have you announced today for struggling businesses and individuals across our state?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, let me just start by saying we've been doing this all the way through this pandemic. Already, before what we announced today, Jim, 463,500 people in New South Wales we've already provided a $411.7 million to. That's the COVID Disaster Payments that have already gone out, already in people's bank accounts. And, up until now, there were two payments - a $600 payment if you'd lost more than 20 hours, and a $375 payment if you'd lost between eight and 20 hours a week. What we're going into next week is we're going to increase that $600 payment to $750, and the $375 payment to $450. Now, if you're already registered and receiving those COVID Disaster Payments, you don't have to do anything. Next week, after this week's payment, next week you will just get the extra $750 and the $450 - that will come straight through. But, if you aren't receiving those payments yet, you can apply. You can go to Services Australia, to their website, and make the application there. And, it's a very quick process. We've had payments approved, processed and paid within half an hour.
Now, the other thing we've done today is if you're on a welfare payment - if you're on a pension, if you're on JobSeeker, Parenting Payment, Youth Allowance, things like that - you're obviously continuing to receive support from the Government. You can access a $200 COVID Disaster Payment if you've lost more than eight hours a week. So, that means we'll extend it to those groups next week. You can apply from next Tuesday. You will already have a Customer Reference Number for myGov.au - my.gov.au. And, so, you'll be able to go on from next Tuesday, make that if you've lost more than eight hours a week, and you'll get that $200 payment, in addition to, say, your JobSeeker payment, which is about $315, but it will also be in addition to your pension payment or your Youth Allowance, Parenting Payment or something like that.
WILSON: Ok. JobKeeper was a huge success during the height of the last COVID outbreak. I mean, this new $750 payment, Prime Minister, for individuals, is at the same level of the original JobKeeper.
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
WILSON: Now, the New South Wales Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has been pushing for JobKeeper to be reintroduced. So, when you look at those numbers, the fact that they're $750 bucks - the original JobKeeper - $750 bucks from next week, why not just bring back JobKeeper?
PRIME MINISTER: Because, it's complicated. It doesn't go direct. It doesn't go to casuals. It doesn't go, it depends on who your employer is. The business doesn't have to go and borrow the money and pay it to you. It comes direct to you. It's not flexible enough. It can't be targeted to particular states. It has to be done across the entire country. In other words, JobKeeper was the right answer last year. But, this year you need something far more targeted, far more, far quicker. And, you're dealing with this year's problem. You don't play last year's grand final this year. You play what you have to play for this year. And, so, JobKeeper was a great program, but it was designed to run nationally for six months across the entire economy. We've got a particular problem in New South Wales. It needs targeted support. And, what we're doing is we've got those payments that we're doing which are going direct. And, in addition to that, what we also announced today with the State Government - they're managing this payment - that you can be a sole trader and you can get support of a $1,000 a week, or you can be a company with a $250 million turnover and you can get payments of up to $100,000 a week. And, that, at the top end, represents about 15 per cent of your payroll. Others will, would have their payments maxing out about 40 per cent of their payroll. So, you put those two things together. The businesses are getting carried through. The individuals are getting carried through. It's far more targeted. And, certainly for the individual payments it's far quicker, because, as I said, we've already got $411 million out the door and in people's bank accounts.
WILSON: Were there too many rorts in JobKeeper?
PRIME MINISTER: No, that wasn't it. It was just a different scheme for a different problem.
WILSON: So, categorically, it's not coming back? JobKeeper will not be ...
PRIME MINISTER: No, there's, well, there's no need for it. This is better, is my point.
WILSON: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: This is actually much better. And, you know, it's being able to get to more people. Many casuals who are out there, they had to go, the way we had to deal with it back then is they went and went on to JobSeeker, and we had the COVID Supplement, you might remember that. And, we supported them through that mechanism. This way we can deal with both in the same system.
WILSON: Your business support seems to be based around a figure of 40 per cent of their weekly payroll. Are you confident that's enough?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, because those who've had their hours reduced, we're paying them those amounts. See, the way JobKeeper worked is the business didn't get any money to keep the business going. It was, that's not what that did. The businesses got money to pay to their employees. Now, we're doing that direct. So, what we're doing is paying money to businesses to keep them going, and that means they can get through these, these next few weeks, over the next month, and on the other side be in a strong position to come out of it and to restore their business, open their doors again and get going again, and getting people back to work again.
WILSON: Are you worried, Prime Minister, that the problems in New South Wales, the health crisis right now that we're confronted in this city, will extend to other parts of the country?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course, but the other states and we're working together with all of them to ensure that that doesn't happen, including New South Wales. That's why it's so important to stay home. I mean, when I hear reports of people, you know, going past out of Sydney and going to the snow, well, I get obviously disappointed. That's not what the rules say. The rules say stay at home. I said it at the press conference today, none of us like the lockdown. You know, I'm in Canberra at the moment. I'm in quarantine at the moment. I've been in quarantine or lockdown for the last six weeks. None of us like that. But, it's what we have to do to get through this, and the sooner the lockdown works, the sooner we're out of it.
WILSON: Do you think we would be in this position if New South Wales had pursued a hard lockdown earlier?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, look, you know, there'll be plenty of Monday morning quarterbacks on this. There'll be plenty of hindsight. The Delta variant is, has been unpredictable and everybody's been trying to work out how's the best way to deal with that. So, you know, I'm not going to get into that, Jim. Well, we've got, what we've got to focus on is what we have to do going forward.
The Government made the best decisions they had on the information available to them in the best interests of the state. I mean, the New South Wales Government has done a great job over the last 18 months. I mean, last year the New South Wales economy didn't fall over to COVID. That kept the entire national economy going. This year, we've got a problem now and we're dealing with it. As Commonwealth, Federal Government, we're putting in three quarters of a billion dollars a week into New South Wales to keep it going, three quarters of a billion every single week.
WILSON: Are you at odds with the New South Wales Premier, Prime Minister? The New South Wales Premier says vaccines are the answer to get out of this lockdown, out of this mess. You suggest lockdowns are the key out of this outbreak. Can you just clarify, are you at odds with the, she says vaccines, you say lockdown. Where does it, where do you stand?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't think that's how to characterise it at all, Jim, and with great respect, I think that verbals us both. Both have a role to play, with both saying that. But, the principal thing that is going to get us through here is making sure the lockdown works. Vaccines help, there's no doubt about that. That's why we've sent not only 200,000 additional - well, actually it was 350 [000] additional vaccines into New South Wales, which included 200,000 Pfizer doses - but on top of that, the Pfizer doses have increased up to 90,000, by 90,000 this week, on top of everything else. They were the scheduled increases. So, those supplies are increasing. And, the AstraZeneca, I applaud the New South Wales Government's walk-in AstraZeneca clinics. We've got the, we've got the new ATAGI advice, the medical advice, which is encouraging people across all age groups to take that AstraZeneca vaccine and to have informed consent. We've provided financially for GPs to be able to give people information and have a consult with them if you want to ask further questions. So, they both, they both help. But, it's not a substitute for the lockdown. The lockdown has to work. If the lockdown doesn't, if we don't all make the lockdown work, well, you can't lift the lockdown. And, that's why we've all got to comply with those rules.
WILSON: Businesses have been reporting problems accessing the money. Has that now been fixed, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you'd have to put that to the New South Wales Government because they're managing that program. We're managing the COVID Disaster Payment to individuals. And, and my, when we first announced that - the Premier and the Treasurer and I in New South Wales a few weeks ago - they said that the applications would open this week and, and money would start to flow by about the end of this week. So, as best as I know, they're on track for that.
WILSON: Ok, just on the vaccination rates. We're now at 30, almost at 39 per cent for those with the first dose of the vaccine. This is in the total population. More than 17 per cent are now fully vaccinated, 17.19 per cent.
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
WILSON: What percentage will we be at by Christmas, do you think?
PRIME MINISTER: I can't tell you, but I do know that by, we will have enough supply and the distribution to ensure that everyone who wants one will be able to have got one. So, now it's all of our job. And, so, with that being available, it's up to all of us to get that vaccination rate as high as we possibly can. But, what I'm, if, what we're running at now at more than a million doses every single week, that puts us on track to achieve, you know, a vaccination rate across the eligible population like we're already, well, like we're seeing overseas in the most advanced vaccinated countries. But, it won't happen by itself. The vaccine won't come and knock on your door and jump in your arm. We need you to make the appointment - AstraZeneca, for Pfizer.
Our GPs, they're doing an absolutely amazing job in rolling out this vaccine program, particularly in New South Wales. The GP program there is really doing the lions, it's doing the lion's share of the work. But, it has also been doing predominantly AstraZeneca vaccines up until now, and it has the highest rate of GP vaccinations in any state or territory of the country. So, the GPs in New South Wales, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
WILSON: Before I let you go, Prime Minister, we do appreciate your time. You're from Sydney. You said you're at The Lodge and in Canberra with, in quarantine. Your family is in Sydney at the moment.
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
WILSON: What is your message to the millions of people currently in lockdown listening to the program this afternoon? We all need a bit of hope.
PRIME MINISTER: Hang in there. We're going to get through this and we're going to push through, just like our Olympians are over in Tokyo. I think they can inspire us. We've just got to hang in there and push through. Stay forward, look, keep looking forward. I'm looking forward to the time when I can reunite with my family. That's going to be at least a month away now because I need to be in Parliament and I need to quarantine for Parliament. And, so, that means I won't be back home for some time. But, that's, look, that's, everyone's going through far harder than that. I'm not complaining about it. I'm just saying, we've all just got to push through, and we push through together and we get through together. On the other side of this, Jim, once you come out of the lockdown, what we know is when you put these economic supports in that we've been talking about, it enables the businesses and the employees to be able to bounce back very quickly. We saw that after the COVID-19 recession last year. We got a million people back to work. We had more people in work than we had before the COVID recession. The economy was bigger than it was before the recession. So, we know that these economic supports work. They just don't get people through each day. They enable the economy to, to surge again on the other side. So, if we keep doing it, we make the lockdown work, then we can look forward, with higher vaccination rates, which are really going at pace now, that we can, you know, we can look back on this and say, well, I'm glad we were able to get through that. It was really tough, but we just have to knuckle down and just keep going. So, thank you, Sydney. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
WILSON: Well, well done on today's major economic announcement. It is a help, and there are people crying out - small businesses, individuals - and well done to you and the Government for coming to the party. Thank you. Thank you for your time, Prime Minister, this afternoon.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Jim, cheers.
WILSON: Good on you.