The Prime Minister discusses the latest Covid outbreak in Sydney

PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon everyone, I am joined by the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly. Paul has now been officially appointed as the Chief Medical Officer after a rather exhaustive selection process. Congratulations, Paul and as you know he's been doing an outstanding job now and acting in that role for many months and he will update you on matters just in a few minutes. 

 

2020 is not done with us yet, that is very clear and nor should we be surprised. The events of the past few days I have no doubt are incredibly frustrating and disappointing for people all around the country who had plans in place to get together and move in between states. The restrictions in Sydney of only ten people in a home, all very sensible, but I understand that it will be disappointing and frustrating because of the disruptions that have taken place and I have no doubt that the premiers feel the same way. But the actions that have been taken are necessary. As we look around the world we know what is happening and we know that we have to be cautious and the great gains that have been made at great sacrifice and at great cost over the course of this year, we intend to maintain them and that means that in circumstances like this, as we have done so now on many occasions we need to act swiftly as is occurring, as the authorities get on top of this and ensure that we can preserve the gains and ensure that we can go into 2021 in a good state. 

 

The virus as I have often reminded everyone, it does not go anywhere it is still there, it is a global pandemic, and as a result outbreaks will occur from time to time. Remember the Crossroads outbreak. Northern Tasmania. Adelaide just a few weeks ago. Of course, what occurred in Melbourne. Even smaller outbreaks have occurred in Brisbane and many other places. It is how you respond to the outbreaks that matters. The outbreaks are things that are going to continue to occur and while great care is taken all around the country, then we can never fully rule out that an outbreak might occur at some point in time. In this case, what we are seeing is both great cooperation, as we have seen in other places before, but the geography I have got to tell you is helping this as well. Those of you who know Sydney well know that the peninsula is a very cohesive community that tends to keep to itself, a bit like the Shire down where I'm from and that is certainly I think assisting in making sure that the Avalon outbreak is staying exactly where it is and the Premier has already gone through at great length with the Chief Health Officer in New South Wales about where things are today. 

 

But we do welcome the fact that we have seen a reduction in those new cases in that 24-hour period. That is no guarantee of tomorrow or the next day after that but it is certainly much better than the alternative and as we go into these next few days, we will be watching carefully as we endeavour to understand whether there has been further seeding, or any seeding I should say, there hasn't been at this point, in other parts of the city or other places and I'm sure Professor Kelly will make this point as well. If you're from that affected area in the Avalon outbreak and the Northern Beaches of Sydney, if you were there over the past fortnight and you happen to be somewhere else now, if you are in Adelaide, if you're in Queensland, if you are indeed here in the ACT or somewhere else, then the rules about isolation apply equally to you as they do to those of your neighbours who are back in Avalon and the Northern Beaches right now and I think that is a very important point and we seek people's cooperation. I think the speed at which the New South Wales authorities have been able to get on top of this and understand the extent of the community transmission in all of those places has been outstanding and that is greatly assisting them in managing this outbreak and that will continue. 

 

I should note as Professor Kelly did on Friday that the Avalon outbreak does qualify under the national hot spot definition and that has been the case for several days now and so therefore the precautionary actions taken in other jurisdictions is understandable in that context. Let's hope that they won't be required for long. Let's hope that what we see here in New South Wales, and I think there is good cause for that hope and what we are seeing having just spoken again to the New South Wales Premier this morning there is good cause I think to have hope that if they continue to apply themselves in the way that they are and the cooperation continues then we can hopefully see things return to COVID normal as soon as we possibly could hope to see that occur. One of the very encouraging elements of the response so far has been the community response from some 38,000 tests conducted yesterday, that is a record. What that shows is that people are listening and they’re coming forward. All of those tests are incredibly helpful to the authorities as they get on top of this and manage to map the impacts of this community transmission. We are already seeing that some of those who are identified as having the virus were already in isolation. They had already isolated themselves as a result of the precautionary approach that had been advised by the health authorities and that shows you that the system is working. The turnaround on testing, same day, we will know of anecdotal evidence of people getting turnarounds in tests in a number of hours, for some it has taken a bit longer than that. But the same day turnaround, the ability to ensure that they are running tracing to ground within those 48-hour periods, these are key metrics that are being hit and very essential to the response. 

 

Just quickly on the issue of aged care. There are no cases in any aged care facilities in these affected areas and in fact none in the country. There is one case where there was a visitor but I'm advised that the visitor was wearing a mask when they were visiting that individual and at this stage there is no suggestion that there has been any virus infection at that site or any other sites. That said, we have put in place the single site working arrangements and support of the facilities in the affected areas, and in addition to that we are also doubling down on the support provided for PPE and other supports through the aged care facilities to ensure that those facilities on infection control and the other matters are being well attended to. 

 

I've already mentioned the testing. On the Commonwealth funded GP respiratory clinics, all across New South Wales and the ACT we have agreed a request to allow asymptomatic testing and that will continue for as long as it needs to. That testing is proving also very helpful with New South Wales authorities on tracking the course of the community transmission. On Defence I should note that we have some 1,298 Defence Force personnel who are deployed to supporting our priority which is hotel quarantine. That includes 342 officers in New South Wales, 284 in Queensland, 150 in Victoria and the other numbers I can make available to those who are seeking them, some 1,600 ADF personnel are directly involved in the effort all around the country. We will be providing the response to the request for additional logistics and other support to the Victorian Government to support their border operations but that does not extend to actual patrolling of the borders, that is not something the Defence Force is doing any longer and that will be done by state officials and supported through the ADF with their logistics and other planning experience. But our major priority for ADF is actually on the hotel quarantine and that is where I think we can add the most value and that is certainly the view of the ADF and General Frewen who is responding in assessing each of those cases.

 

I also note the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment for those  who are in New South Wales who are having to take tests and isolate themselves that continues to be available. Some $18 million has been paid out in that payment since it was first introduced to Australians and Australian residents, $16 million of that I note was paid in Victoria and so in New South Wales for those who need to access that payment they can access that payment and hopefully that will be of great use to you. 

 

The only other thing I was going to note today was that tomorrow's swearing-in ceremony, we will be doing virtually. Bringing people from around the country to the ACT, including from Sydney, we don't think it is a wise decision and so alternative arrangements have been made with the Governor-General and we will arrange another suitable time for a formal ceremony later in January. But the official swearing-in to enable those changes to the ministry will take place tomorrow and those arrangements will become active after that swearing-in. 

 

So with that, I might pass over to Professor Kelly.

 

PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you, PM. So just to add on a couple of extras to what the PM has already said. The key element of the what is now being called the Avalon outbreak, and that is important to consider that, this is very localised thing at the moment, as the PM mentioned, that part of the Northern Beaches is quite insular, actually. They tend to stay where they are in that peninsula. So all of the cases so far, all of them, the 83 locally acquired cases that have happened since the 17th of December in New South Wales have been linked back to that cluster. So most of them are living in Avalon, Newport and surrounding suburbs. Almost all of them have had either a direct link or an indirect link to those events that happened in the RSL on the 11th and the Bowling Club in Avalon on the 13th of December. 

 

So just to go through those numbers, and this is an important thing to think about, not just the daily numbers but the trend. So on the 17th of December, we have three cases. On the 18th of December we had 15 cases, on the 19th of December we had, 18th of December, 15. 19th of December 23. 20th of December 30. And today, 15. So it has gone up and come down, it may go up again. We cannot absolutely guarantee that. But at the moment the trend is good and crucially, despite the fact that we had 38,578 tests yesterday, that is all we found, was 15, and they were all linked to that particular cluster. That is a huge response from the community and a real shout out to the people of Greater Sydney but particularly the Northern Beaches. Almost quadrupled the number of average daily tests as was occurring two weeks ago so that is an enormous response and people are coming forward and that is something we need to absolutely stress. Anyone who has been to any of those places that has been mentioned on the New South Wales Health website, they should take on that advice. Isolate, get tested if that is the case and then that is how we know whether it has spread further. For those, anyone in Sydney particularly, at the moment but throughout the country please download the COVIDSafe app if you have not already done so, make sure it is switched on. And secondly, if you go to a place that has a QR code, check in. Use it. That is how we can really get on top of these issues if anyone has been to those venues, that is how we know who else has been there and we can get that done quickly. 

 

For those of you who are now not going to be able to share a family Christmas, it is the same for me, and so make sure you check in on your family and make sure they are keeping well and look at virtual ways, as the PM has said, if it works for the Ministers being sworn in, we can have virtual Christmases, we have had it all through this year and we are very good at that. So make sure you do keep in touch with your family and don't be separated at this time, even though you physically cannot be there.

 

Thanks. 

 

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Paul. We have been here before. We have been able to overcome this before, including in New South Wales. New South Wales, I should stress, has not sought any additional support at this point. They have got it covered, but the Premier is aware of what is available to her if she needs it. I should note that in Victoria, particularly the support the Defence is providing is in defence accommodation for accommodation for those involved in addressing those border issues. The medical expert panel is meeting every day and Paul will chair that meeting this afternoon. The transport Ministers were meeting today, pulled together by the Deputy Prime Minister, and that is just to ensure that the freight continues to operate with these border changes coming in over the last sort of 48 hours. The Health Ministers will be meeting on Wednesday and if there is a need for the meeting of the National Cabinet, we did not meet especially when the Adelaide outbreak occurred, I think there is a few more days of data, and these other meetings, I think addressing the operational issues here, I have not had direct requests from any of the Premiers for that to occur and I noted there has been a commentary in the media. But that said, I mean National Cabinet can come together but with the medical experts actually meeting and advising them, they are getting all of that information direct they have made their calls when it comes to the precautionary arrangements on the border restrictions they have put in place and I think after a couple more days we will know a bit more and if there is a need to do that, well of course we can do that. Do it on Christmas Eve if necessary, do it on Christmas Day but between now and then, I think we will allow those people who have the job of advising and taking those operational decisions to just get on with it.

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, in the past few days we’ve seen as a result of this Avalon cluster state Premiers close their borders. We’re not going to have a vaccine widely available in Australia until the end of next year. Is it your expectation now that every time we see a cluster pop up in this country, state Premiers are going to close their borders, restrictions will be imposed and the country will for a short time go backwards again?

 

PRIME MINISTER: The vaccine will be available in March, not at the end of next year.

 

JOURNALIST: Widely available.

 

PRIME MINISTER: It will take some months for it to work its way through the population but I note, Paul, there still has not been the emergency authorisation in the United Kingdom as yet and I can assure Australians that I will not be putting their health at risk in the way we manage both the approval and deployment of the vaccine. It must be safe, it must follow all of those rules. I note that in Australia we have the highest, one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and that is because of the trust they place in the system and their expectation of me and indeed the Secretary of the Department of Health and Health Minister and Professor Skerritt at the TGA is that we follow all of those processes very, very diligently. Now, as I said before, we have a hot spot in Avalon. We have a hot spot in the Northern Beaches and when you have hot spots respond to those with restrictions. That is the way this has been successfully managed anywhere in the world and Australia is no different to that. The ultimate decisions that states make our sovereign matters for them. As I have said to you before, the states, they determine their own definition of a hot spot and what restrictions they put in place. We have sought to get a national approach to that and the states and territories have chosen that they want to retain their flexibility to set those issues for their individual states and territories. They have the constitutional power to do that. In the New Year, if there is a way to get further streamlining of that and consistency, well, my door is always open to have those discussions but I can assure you, though, the states have a very strong view about retaining their decision-making power over those issues, they are responsible for public health in their states and so that is understandable. But as we deal with the virus, it is unpredictable, it does do this and how you respond is very important. So long as it is done transparently and efficiently and as quickly as the Northern Territory has been doing this now for months and months and months. The will have areas go on and off a hot spot list in a matter of days if not weeks. That process in the Northern Territory has worked extremely efficiently and that is what the Commonwealth view of the national hot spot has been based on, that Northern Territory experience. You can't ignore hot spots, you can’t pretend they are not there and they don’t present a risk. Of course they present a risk and until we have a vaccine that is reaching the necessary levels that is required across the country, then these are the ways we will have to practically manage these issues. But the difference between now and when we were dealing without breaks six or seven months ago is night and day and I think that is what we will continue to see in New South Wales in the days ahead.

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you disappointed that we won't be able to open by Christmas as formally hoped?

 

PRIME MINISTER: I couldn’t quite hear you, sorry.

 

JOURNALIST: Do you think are you disappointed we won't be able to opened by Christmas as you formally hoped and also do you think this most recent outbreak will have any material impact on the economic situation in the country?

 

PRIME MINISTER: On the first point, like any other Australian, of course we wanted everything to be opened by Christmas but the virus has had a different idea about that and that is just a practical reality. I should say, though, in the seven states and territories we certainly will having Christmas in this country like few countries in the world are and so every Christmas is a time to be thankful and while there are frustrations and disappointments and disruptions this Christmas, I think here in Australia we have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to be grateful for and those people who we are able to join with are the most important things we should be grateful for. And so that will go ahead, either directly or as Paul says, virtually. So I think we have to keep that in some sort of perspective. On economic issue, well, it is still too early. What we are looking at here is an outbreak in one quite geographically defined part of Sydney which at the moment is not suggesting broader seeding and having a broader impact now. As the Chief Medical Officer says, he can't guarantee it won't take a different course. But that said, if it were to continue on in that way, just like we saw with the Adelaide outbreak a few weeks ago, then these things would have a very minimal impact on those economic scenarios. In the short term though, of course it is highly disruptive, there is no doubt about that.

 

JOURNALIST: Just on the comments about Christmas, it is still a few days away, are you praying for a Christmas miracle and also is there a need to reconsider or even consider travel restrictions from the UK given the mutated strain?

 

PRIME MINISTER: I will let Paul deal with that, why don’t you deal with that item first Paul, and that I will share my prayer diary with the gallery.

 

PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So on the new strand in the UK, I think we need to put that in context. Firstly, there has been thousands of mutations of this particular novel coronavirus, you remember that is what it was called at the beginning. It was new coronavirus and had a mutation to get there and there have been small mutations along the way, but thousands of them. The particular strain which is circulating especially in the south-east of England at the moment does have some particular mutations related to the spike protein. That is important because it is the way the virus gets into the cells and also the particular part of the virus that the vaccines are attacking, all the vaccines are related to the spike protein. Having said that, there is no definite evidence at the moment that this is a significant change. There has been more transmission in recent times in south-east of the UK and that may be associated with the virus. There is certainly more transmission going on but that is also related to the few weeks before Christmas. So the way I look at this, as with every infectious disease, there are three things going on. There is an environment, a host, that is humans and the infectious agent. So the infectious agent has changed a little, there a lot of people moving around in south-east England or have been until the recent lockdown. It is also winter so those all three are important elements to consider. In terms of what that means for people coming from the UK here, everyone coming from the UK is going into 14 days of hotel quarantine and they are of no risk as that quarantine works so successfully, as it has done for the most part here in Australia since the beginning. PM?

 

PRIME MINISTER: Miracles happen every day in Australia, small and large, and I think Christmas is a time to give thanks to those that we know of.

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the review into the problems with the hotel quarantine in Victoria, their findings out today, they conclude that no person or agency claimed any responsibility for the decision to use private security as the first tier of security and all vigorously disputed the possibility they could have played a part in the decision. Do you think that is a credible finding? Is there a problem now with the lack of accountability about the failures of hotel quarantine in Victoria?

 

PRIME MINISTER: What matters most is that we learn the lessons from what happened. Not just on that occasion but there have been many events and incidents that have occurred over the course of the pandemic and my focus has been, along with my team is to learn from each and every occasion. On quarantine, as a National Cabinet at our instigation we initiated the Holton Review that has gone around and checked right across the country and there have been significant improvements on the tracing. We had Doctor Finkel do something very similar and we have seen major improvements that have come from that. In the middle of a pandemic, you just have to focus on making sure you learn the lessons and you get it right going forward. I honestly think the best way I can continue to do that job is just by keeping looking forward, learning whatever we can from those experiences. I mean, I go back when we were dealing with the outbreak in northern Tasmania, I was down in Tasmania, down in Devonport just a few days ago, reflecting on that with Premier Gutwein. I spoke to a doctor who was involved up on that outbreak on that occasion and there were things that were learned from that experience and that translated to the next one. And so on each occasion, we are now here with what is of course a serious outbreak in Avalon but with the tools and capability to deal with it better than we have in previous outbreaks. So, you know, they have made their report, they’ve made their findings, others will judge that in the Victorian context and for the Victorian Government. That is a matter for them. What I am focused on is working and supporting every single government in this country, leading from our Government, to ensure we put in place the best possible response on each and every occasion.

 

Paul, you are being very patient today.

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what progress has been made to strengthen the standards for quarantine of international aircrew and why did it take until December to decide that crews should be in fewer airports, fewer hotels closer to the airports?

 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it has been a combination of practices by the states, as you may know. Some states already were quarantining aircrews in one hotel hotel and New South Wales is moving to that. I should stress though, New South Wales takes half the international arrivals to Australia every week. So New South Wales has been carrying the lion’s share of the burden of getting Australians home. 3,000 even now, every week. Despite the challenges they’re facing now, New South Wales continues to do everything it can to get Australians home and they’re not just from New South Wales. They are from all the other states and territories. Victoria is still only at 1,000. Great to see them come up and in my discussions I’ve had with the Premier but we will see that happen when it is safe to do so. New South Wales keeps carrying that burden and great to see in Queensland they have gone up to about 1,300 per week and in WA it is just over 1,000. That’s great but New South Wales continues to carry the heaviest burden on quarantining international arrivals into this country. That means they have more aircrew and more pilots and they had more challenges in managing that than any other state or territory in the Commonwealth. So the arrangements they are putting in place now, I spoke to the Health Minister in New South Wales Brad Hazzard about this yesterday and I support the moves they are making there across all those who are involved, aircrew, pilots and others. That will only further strengthen the system, there is no doubt about that and that is a welcome development and we will continue to support them in those efforts.

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the hot spot definition it sounds like you have all but abandoned the hope of actually getting a national definition. Do you not think that as the Federal Government it is your responsibility to give some certainty to all Australians about what will happen in the events of outbreaks?

 

PRIME MINISTER: I don't agree with your assessment and I don't agree with your summing up of what the constitutional position is by implication. The National Cabinet has been able to achieve things that hasn't been achieved in so many other federated countries around the world. The point I was making to you is that state premiers take their responsibilities for the public health of people in their jurisdictions very seriously. If they feel that they want to have a stronger rule or different set of rules to exercise their responsibilities, then that is understandable. That is their accountability and the basis upon which they’re elected as governments and where possible, we seek to make these things consistent but what we need to look at is what the result has been and that is Australia has had one of the most successful outcomes in a suppressing the virus in this country of almost any other country in the world. I haven’t finished. And so I would stress  to you that where we can work together, we do, and where states want to exercise their responsibilities to have differing arrangements, well that is the Federation of Australia. We will continue to make as consistent as possible but as I said in this case, the Avalon outbreak actually matches the national hot spot definition. It actually does and we have seen states respond along those lines. So I wouldn't take the same pessimistic view.

 

JOURNALIST: Is the COVIDSafe app being used in the contact tracing efforts for the Avalon cluster?

 

PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?

 

JOURNALIST: Is the COVIDSafe app being used in Avalon?

 

PRIME MINISTER: Yes.

 

JOURNALIST: Has it managed to track down many positive cases?

 

PRIME MINISTER:  It is provided the same use it has right across. But Paul might want to add to that.

 

JOURNALIST: Has it managed to track down any positive cases?

 

PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: It is definitely being used and you remember it really a tool that is to be used by the contact tracers. New South Wales has, I would hazard that they would actually have the best contract tracers in the world. With their manual processes with the QR codes and everything else that they’re using as well as Opal card data, all sorts of other ways of getting that information, they are getting a lot of information from the people coming forward, getting tested and being questioned. They are putting the COVIDSafe app into that and at the moment haven't got any extra information from that but this is absolutely crucial and as we move, if this virus was to move outside the Northern Beaches, this is the way we will find those people if they are in contact. So please download the app.

 

PRIME MINISTER:  As we have in other cases with outbreaks and so it is an important backstop measure that actually integrates with other tools being used.

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask about trade diversification, we're looking at other markets other than China, what countries specifically are we looking to trade with how long will these new arrangements take?

 

PRIME MINISTER: Let me stress, already the Government has increased the two-way trade that is covered by trade agreements under our Government from 26 percent to 70 percent that’s quite a, that’s the biggest diversification of our trade opportunities that this country has ever seen up to this point. The next two big agreements we are working on is with the UK and European Union which we have been working on for some time, ever since Brexit basically began with the referendum. We have been engaging with the UK on that matter and obviously have to waited until they finalise the arrangements with the EU. But at the same time, we have been working with the EU and would like to finalise that next year and I have made that point in my discussions with European leaders that have been quite extensive over the last six months.

 

JOURNALIST: A lot of the businesses in accommodation and the tourism sector rely on January, the income they earn in that period to tide them over for the rest of the year. We are looking at cutting JobKeeper from 10 days, I guess, effectively in the New Year. Is there any thought given to maybe putting a pause on that, or providing further assistance to those businesses that are going to be hit and given what you and Professor Kelly were saying about it being localised on the insular peninsular, do you think that perhaps the states, the other states, may be in a position to lift those border restrictions quite quickly before the end of the Christmas holidays for instance, the summer holidays?

 

PRIME MINISTER: It all depends on the data, it all depends on the data over the next few days. It may well be that what we're seeing in the Avalon outbreak goes the same way that the Adelaide outbreak went and it all comes and goes and in that sort of period of time and then things can then restore where they were prior to that. We're not at that point yet to be able to make those judgements. Hopefully in the next few days, next week, that will become clearer. But what we have done all the way through, particularly managing in relation to the economic response to the pandemic, is to ensure we have been driven and led by the evidence that we're seeing and Australia's economic response has been in the top tier around the world. I make this point, that without JobKeeper over the course of this year, the doubling initially of the JobSeeker payment, the JobTrainer initiatives, HomeBuilder, the Apprenticeship Support Programs, all of this, then the health response that has been put in place around the country by the states and territories would not have been possible. The economic foundation and support that was put in place by the Commonwealth Government enabled the public health response at a state and territory level. The Commonwealth bankrolled, wrote the cheque that underpinned what has been an outstanding health response at a state and territory level. The two have gone together and that's a partnership that I think has made Australia's response this year stand out at an international level. So we're always careful how we apply these things. The dates and the transitions are set, we’ve got no plans to change any of those, and we'll see what happens over the next week or so with the Avalon outbreak but at this stage I can't see any reason why any of that would change.

 

JOURNALIST: What discussions have you had with Jacinda Ardern around the New Zealand travel bubble, has this outbreak delayed that further?

 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the travel bubble with New Zealand is a matter for New Zealand. New Zealanders are welcomed to come to Australia and that arrangement has been going very successfully. The last figure I had, I think was about 9,000 New Zealanders had come through. It’s probably more than that now Paul, and without any incident whatsoever. If New Zealand wants Australians to be able to travel to New Zealand in the same way, that's entirely a matter for New Zealand. The last chat we had with her was exactly that. If New Zealand would like to do that, fine. That's great. But it's not a decision for Australia. It's a matter for New Zealand. Australia has no role to play in that decision whatsoever.

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you envisage a time where you would cancel flights from UK as a result of the new strain following what's happened in Europe and Canada, or do you believe that hotel quarantine is as good a defence as cancelling flights?

 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have no plans to go down the path you have suggested. We always take the medical advice on these things and as Professor Kelly has just set out, at this stage there's nothing to suggest that such a significant action would be warranted. We're always mindful of the medical advice on these things. Our hotel quarantine system has been a very effective and important defence in the vast majority of cases. Of course, we all know what occurred in Victoria and we all know what has occurred in New South Wales and a number of other places on occasions. But I'd stress this, it's not just about the quarantine, it's also then about the response and the behaviours that people follow and so as we go into these last few days before Christmas, I think it is good to be mindful that the virus hasn't gone anywhere. I think it's important that we provide support to each other, particularly those who are most affected at the moment. I really feel for those small businesses and medium-sized businesses who have had their businesses disrupted again. But they know that the Government has been supporting them all the way through. There's not a place I go to in this country and my colleagues where business owners come to us and say, "JobKeeper kept my employees in jobs. JobKeeper kept my business in business." So they know, they understand, the Government has stood with them over the course of this year and I think the Australian people understand that as well through the record levels of support that has been provided. And we have been able to do that in partnership with the states and territories to ensure that Australia's response has stood out all around the world. So as we go into Christmas, while it's frustrating, I know, and while it's disappointing, deeply disappointing that some of the reunions that might have happened this Christmas for many families won't happen, but they will happen in the New Year. People will get together. We will get through this like we have got through so many other events. It's important to stay calm, to follow the health advice, to follow the public health information that is available, to keep the COVID safe behaviours and practises in place and I think we got a very good cause and very good reason to trust what is happening in New South Wales at the moment. They really are continuing to demonstrate their gold standard when it comes to managing these issues and I'm very hopeful that that will play out even more positively in the days ahead. Thanks very much

• Prev
• Next