ANDREW GILES MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CITIES AND URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS
SHADOW MINISTER ASSISTING FOR IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP
MEMBER FOR SCULLIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
ABC WEEKEND BREAKFAST
SATURDAY, 17 JULY 2021
SUBJECTS: Lockdown in Victoria and NSW; Failures of the Morrison Government
HOST: One in Sydney, the other one in Melbourne. We're all in lockdown, aren't we? Andrew, if I could start with you, we'll start with these financial assistance packages that have been rolled out. This is the blueprint going forward, I suppose for all the future lockdowns. Is it enough?
ANDREW GILES, SHADOW MINISTER FOR MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS: Well, I guess what's really frustrating is it's taken us so long to even get to this point, that we saw a different approach taken to the Sydney lockdown then was applied by the federal government to the last Melbourne lockdown. It's really only because of the leadership of Daniel Andrews and other Premiers that we're moving towards an approach that is more equitable.
Whether it's enough, well, that remains to be seen. What we need is a system that recognises that people need to be supported.
I mean, today we've just heard about 19 new cases in Melbourne, people are feeling anxious, they're feeling frustrated, and they're feeling angry about these circumstances. And the facts that it's the Morrison Government's failure to do its jobs that have led us here. Now, the least the Morrison Government can do is provide some certainty around income support for individuals and businesses, so that people know that they can do the right thing and stay safe without putting at risk their ability to pay the bills.
HOST: Trent, I think everyone had hoped that we wouldn't see lockdowns, particularly long lockdowns in Australia anymore. But it's not really a surprise that we are seeing those happen, particularly with the Delta variant and with the vaccinations as low as they are. Why when JobKeeper ended and when the budget passed by wasn't there this national plan for support in place?
TRENT ZIMMERMAN, MEMBER FOR NORTH SYDNEY: Well, I think the thing that has to be said is that there is no manual for guiding any country through the pandemic. And obviously, what we've seen emerge this year, is a far more virulent infectious strain, the Delta strain, and that's caused governments around the world, I think, to re-evaluate the way in which they're responding to the pandemic because it is so ferocious. And if you look on our doorstep, what's happening in Indonesia is a demonstration of that. So effectively, we have continually adapted as the circumstances have changed.
And I'm pleased that this week I think that the Commonwealth and the States and I saw Daniel Andrews acknowledged this yesterday, that worked very well to put in new arrangements which will be applied in any State where an outbreak like this occurs.
HOST: Just out of national cabinet, the Prime Minister has said that his four phase plan out of the pandemic is still on track to return to normal. This is of course, despite half the country being in lockdown and Sydney's restrictions to last possibly longer than expected. You know many Australians admire his optimism. Trent, do you share that optimism as well?
ZIMMERMAN: Well, the plan is really dependent upon one thing and that's getting the vaccination rates where we need them.
HOST: And that depends on vaccination supplies as well.
ZIMMERMAN: Correct, it does and all the indications so far, I mean, the global fight for vaccines is pretty severe. But all the indications so far is that we're on track to get the uptake of Pfizer and later Moderna and hopefully Novavax as well, which we'll see us be able to end the year with every Australian who wants one having being able to vaccinated. And I think that's really the key barometer for our progress on the four step plan. I noticed that Anthony Albanese has a different approach. He thinks that we should be waiting for up to two years before we reopen our borders. But, it is all dependent upon on the vaccination rates getting to where the scientists tell him we need them to be.
HOST: Andrew Giles, I want to pick up what Trent mentioned about Anthony Albanese's comments about reopening Australia and waiting till we have those purpose built facilities, we have a full vaccination rollout, we can produce mRNA vaccines here in Australia. Wouldn't that see Australia not opening up for a very long time? And is that what he meant by those comments?
GILES: Well, what Anthony was doing was setting out our approach to this issue and how an Albanese Labor Government would have done things differently. And frankly, if you look at our record on this and compare it to the Government, they really don't bear comparison. We encouraged, in fact, we urged the government to look at five or six vaccination deals last year. And we saw that in recent days the Prime Minister who didn't hold a hose in the bushfires couldn't be bothered picking up the phone to the CEO of Pfizer, and that's why we are where we are, 38th out of 38 countries in the OECD when it comes to the vaccination rollout. That's the real issue that we are grappling with, together with, of course, the other failure of the government, the failure which led directly to the last lockdown in Melbourne. The failure to build dedicated national quarantine facilities - the thing with this Prime Minister is that he just won't take responsibility for anything. And that's why he always prefers to talk about us than his record. We even saw his failure in recent days, when he mischaracterised the advice of ATAGI.
Now, everything he does has got to be about boosting vaccination and taking responsibility.
And he's a bloke that we know has shape shifted, he was a moderate at the start, now he's a conservative; he used to like rugby union, now he likes Rugby League; well perhaps now he could make the big transformation
Australians need and stop being a marketing man, stop playing politics and actually be a leader who takes responsibility for getting us through this.
HOST: Just on that note about being a leader, Trent, a question to you. There are some Australians who are wondering who's actually leading the country, you know, the State Premiers and Chief Ministers pressured the Federal Government on the issue of financial assistance, on the issue of international travel restrictions, quarantine facilities as well, as well as the lockdown. So it does seem as though the Prime Minister is following the lead of the State Premiers and Chief Ministers rather than actually leading the way as a Prime Minister.
ZIMMERMAN: Well, I don't agree with that assessment. I actually think that despite the occasional bits of public friction that the collaborative approach between the Commonwealth and the States is actually by and large worked very well over the last 18 months and National Cabinet has been instrumental, in that I think it's met over 40 times, for example. And it's through things like National Cabinet that we have been able to refine the financial support that we're now going to be able to give to businesses and employees that are impacted by the current lockdowns. But I do want to correct one thing that Andrew said, I mean; he's basically implying that the current outbreak is being caused by failure of hotel quarantine. They were actually caused by the transportation of cargo flight crew in Sydney. If seriously the Labor Party's proposition, that flight crew for cargo flights should be put in 14 weeks quarantine in remote facilities, then that's basically a recipe for saying we never going to get anything by air again during this pandemic.
GILES: Trent I was referring to the previous Melbourne lockdown, that's what I said.
ZIMMERMAN: Well, plenty of Labor people say that this is all a failure of hotel quarantine and it's clearly not.
GILES: I'd say the—
HOST: Just finish that thought Andrew Giles then I've got another question.
GILES: Oh, look, you know, I think we should talk about why we are in the circumstances we are in with our two biggest cities in lockdown. And as a Melburnian again, I'm pretty frustrated because we've seen a failure of decisions made at the national level. And also we still have a failure of decisions being made in New South Wales - to define essential retail, to do what so many experts have encouraged people to do. I think these are things that people have got a front up for.
HOST: Well, that does lead me to my next question, Trent, the Prime Minister said that New South Wales was the gold standard when it came to managing COVID and praised Gladys Berejiklian for not going into lockdown quickly, like we've seen is the case in other states. Now that we see the lockdown in Sydney drag on, and possibly tighten today and in contrast, we see Victoria going into this short, sharp lockdown, that we've seen work for them in the past. Does New South Wales still hold the title of the gold standard approach?
ZIMMERMAN: Well, I think that the things you got to look at or judging by performance, and I frankly think all of our states are by and large, have done exceptionally well over the last 18 months. I think what has stood New South Wales out from the pack was developing the tracing and contact capacity, which is really for so many occasions put New South Wales in very good stead and I think New South Wales has led the nation in that regard. And I also think also things like the mandatory QR codes have made a real difference that made an operation in Sydney for well earlier - from the beginning of this year.
And we saw it in contrast, Victoria and Queensland, introducing those mandatory systems only in the last few months. So there are features like that where I think New South Wales has been a standout. But overall, I really don't think this should be a fight or a competition between the states and we frankly, I was disappointed to see Premier Palaszczuk yesterday refer to this outbreak as the Sydney strain. That sounds a bit like channelling Donald Trump to me, but it really shouldn't a 'my state better than your state' type of competition.
HOST: Absolutely and we don't want to fuel that one state versus the other, particularly when the two are in lockdown. But those things that you mentioned: the QR codes and the tracking, I mean they work until they don't and what we're seeing in Sydney, do you think that that there have been approaches taken in Sydney for example, the delaying of calling the lockdown that could have been done differently particularly with the Delta strain?
ZIMMERMAN: Yeah, look, I think that what is important what we expect about State Premier's is for them to rely squarely on the health advice they're getting from the professionals. And I think that's what Premier Berejiklian has done as all the other premiers have done. And obviously, as I said, as we started this conversation, the Delta strain has introduced a new challenge and unknown challenge to most of the world until the last couple of months. So now that health advice is obviously adapting to something that is far more virulently infectious. So long as Premier's are following and considering the best health advice and so we can have confidence that ultimately will get on top of this.
HOST: Andrew Giles, this is Melbourne's fifth lock down that you're experiencing at the moment. Daniel Andrews had come under a lot of criticism of the last few lockdowns, it was too long, it was too severe. How are Melburnians feeling about this fifth time round?
GILES: Well, look, I'm not sure if there was much criticism directed from Melburnians at the Premier of Victoria.. but people are feeling anxious, obviously with today's news as well. People are feeling frustrated and people are feeling angry because I think there has been a complacency in our national policy settings.
I mean we saw the Prime Minister congratulate Premier Berejiklian for not going into lockdown. We saw Ministers in the Government criticising the Victorian approach. And in fact, describing the Victorian Government and indeed Victorians as whingers only days ago for seeking income support to enable people and communities to stay safe.
So people do feel that they've been treated differently, people do feel that the national government has not been on their side, people do feel that we haven't had a consistent approach to following public health advice. And that's something that, frankly, the national government has got a front up for and correct the record. Time and time again, we see the Prime Minister blame the messenger and not take responsibility and that is compounded when we read the papers today and we hear Josh Frydenberg talk about how he's coming to help. This is the bloke who just days ago was describing the request that he's now answering as whinging.
People are angry, but Victorians will pull through. We've done this before; we know what to do. We know we have got first class public health advice here.
And we know that we will get through this together by following the rules and by looking out for each other.
HOST: I think Victorians and people in New South Wales in fact, all over Australia are quite sick and tired of this pandemic and we're all frustrated and we're all angry because of this particular pandemic. But you know we thank both of you for coming on weekend breakfast. We're going have to end this segment now. We hope you both stay safe. Thank you.
ZIMMERMAN: Likewise.
GILES: Thanks Fauziah and best to everyone in Sydney too.