Senator the Hon Anne Ruston
Minister for Families and Social Services
Minister for Women’s Safety
Manager of Government Business in the Senate

Transcript

Sky News Sunday Agenda

Sunday 4 July 2021

 E&OE…

KIERAN GILBERT: 
Let's bring in my guest, the Minister for Families and Social Services andWomen's Safety, Senator Anne Ruston. Minister, thank you very much for joiningus. With this roadmap, the four stage plan, so much of it hinges doesn't it onwhat the magical number will be when it comes to the vaccination rate?

MINISTER RUSTON:
Well certainly, obviously the vaccination is the key to our ability to be ableto open our borders up again and get Australia back to whatever the new normalis going to look like. So clearly over the coming months it's really, reallyimportant that we get the vaccine rolled out, that we make sure that peoplehave confidence in having the vaccine so we can get our population vaccinatedto a level that will allow us to do those things that we've talked about instage 2, 3 and 4 of the plan to get Australia back to normal.

KIERAN GILBERT:
Well, we're talking about reopening. Do you feel for those Australians who arestuck overseas that can't get home given in the short-term the leaders haveagreed to, in fact, slash the number of international arrivals?

MINISTER RUSTON:
Well of course we've been trying to repatriate every Australian who's stuckoverseas but there have been obviously a number of challenges that still remainbut right now because of the impact of the Delta strain which is obviously muchmore virulent than anything we've seen before we're focusing on the healthaspect. I mean, by focusing on the health aspects at the start of this pandemicwe were able to get Australia through that first stage and get our economy backopen and we've seen the results economically over the last 12 months. So rightnow obviously our focus has to be on dealing with this Delta strain, gettingeverything back under control again so we can focus on the economy. It's servedus well in the past and I'm sure the quick and effective action of our healthofficials will see that we'll come out of this pandemic, or this currentlockdown, as quickly as possible and then we can refocus on getting Australianshome, getting our economy open and getting our borders open again.

KIERAN GILBERT:
How long do you think we'll have to wait before we get to stage 4 and thingsare back to normal? Are we talking years?

MINISTER RUSTON:
Well I mean obviously this all has to be predicated on the medical advice andthe work that currently the Doherty Institute is doing about making sure thatevery stage of the pathway back to opening up Australia again is one that takesinto account the health and safety of Australians as well as obviously focusingon our economic conditions here but obviously every Australian wants us to beable to get to stage 4 as quickly as possible but we can only do that if weknow that the health and safety of Australians is being protected along theway. So we'll have to wait for the medical advice to come in and all the otheradvice to come in but like you I hope that the borders are open as soon aspossible and we can get on with our lives.

KIERAN GILBERT:
Anne Ruston this week Daniel Andrews, or the week just gone, Daniel Andrewssaid basically it would be unreasonable to have lockdowns on the basis ofprotecting those unwilling to protect themselves i.e. when we get to a clearmajority, 70 or 80 per cent vaccinated, that then we have to start reopening.That's a reasonable proposition, isn't it? That, people, if you're not going toget a vaccine and not willing to take that step that the government, that thenation, that our society has to be done on the basis of people actually takingthe vaccination when it's on offer. Do you share a similar view?

MINISTER RUSTON:
Well look, the first thing I'd say is to anybody out there that has vaccinehesitancy, go and see your doctor, have a discussion with them and find out ifthere's a pathway that's going to suit you to get yourself vaccinated becausewe want every Australian to be vaccinated, but there will come a point in timewhere enough Australians are vaccinated that we are able to open up our bordersagain and our medical and health systems will be able to cope with those peoplethat will inevitably fall sick because we're not going to see COVID-19 go awayany time soon, we're just working on a process to be able to live with it. ButI think first and foremost, I think we have to make a really concerted effortto convince those people that at the moment are not considering having thevaccine, for them to reconsider that and as I said, the health advice is thestrongest argument that we could possibly ask you to consider in gettingvaccinated.

KIERAN GILBERT:
The WA Premier Mark McGowan had this to say off the back of the NationalCabinet, when talking about having lockdowns as last resort. I want to playthis comment and then get your thoughts on it. Let's hear Mark McGowan duringthe week.

[Excerpt]

MARK MCGOWAN:
Last resort, as Peter said, is subjective. It is subjective. New South Wales'version of last resort is get 80 cases and then you have community spread and alockdown that might go for weeks and weeks, if not months. Our view of lastresort is that you listen to the medical advice, you see if there's anyprospect of community spread and you try and kill it quickly and efficientlyright then, rather than let it drag on and result in, potentially, catastrophicconsequences.

[End of excerpt]

KIERAN GILBERT:
Are you worried that some Premiers even when vaccination rates are high willcontinue to use lockdowns even with a couple of cases?

MINISTER RUSTON:
Well I mean obviously the decision that was made at National Cabinet on Fridaywas to avoid having to have lockdowns because there would be sufficient peoplevaccinated to enable the health systems in our various states and territoriesto cope with any people who became infected. So I would hope that all statesand territories would abide by that because inevitably it's the people of thatparticular state and territory that become the victims of the lockdowns and ofcourse we understand there are times and occasions when you do requirelockdowns but they come at a big economic cost, they come at a big social cost,they come at a mental health cost to the people who are living in the statesand territories that are in lockdown. We've only got to look at the trauma thatwas caused to many Victorians by the amount of last year that they spent inlockdown. So I think we do need to be using lockdowns very, very sparingly andonly using them as an absolute last resort, but the pathway that was charteredon Friday I think is a really important and positive move and it can giveAustralians confidence that there is an outcome, we'll be working towards thatoutcome and hopefully the territory and state Premiers and Chief Ministers willabide by that and play by the rules of the plan that they agreed to on Friday.

KIERAN GILBERT: 
Should the Government in hindsight have acquired more vaccines, given whatwe've said about it basically underpinning everything in terms of this roadmap?In hindsight would you have bought more options?

MINISTER RUSTON:
Well we did buy a lot of options of vaccine. First and foremost we thoughtsovereign capability of actually producing our own vaccine was tremendouslyimportant and that was why we set up for the production of AstraZeneca inAustralia. Unfortunately the health advice has now changed on that particularvaccine and it’s now only highly recommended for those people over the age of60 but it is still available to people under the age of 60 with the advice andtheir informed consent and their support of their doctor. But we bought a lotof vaccines but you know this was extraordinarily uncertain times and we nowfind ourselves relying quite heavily on the Pfizer vaccine but we're startingto see as of tomorrow a significant increase in the number of Pfizer vaccinesthat will be arriving in Australia and we have a trajectory for everyAustralian to have had a jab by the end of the year, or every eligibleAustralian, that is those over the age of 16. So we are now on a pathway to beable to fulfil our vaccine commitments, but yeah look it was uncertain timesbut I think we…

KIERAN GILBERT:
So you're confident it's turning around? You're confident it is getting back ontrack?

MINISTER RUSTON:
Well you've only got to look at the last eight days we've managed to get amillion jabs in arms. It took us 47 days to get the first million jabs in armsso I think you look at the trajectory now with the increased dosages that arecoming into Australia, there's no reason why we can't continue to increase thenumber of people that are vaccinated every day. I think every day last week wehad a new record of the number of people that were vaccinated so Australianscan be confident that the vaccine rollout is well underway. 70 per cent ofpeople over 70 have been vaccinated, 50 per cent of people over 50, 30 per centof the population have had a jab in the arm so I think we just need to focus onthe really good things that we're doing and also focus on the fact that we'vegot an economy that is doing really, really well despite the fact that we'vehad the most extraordinary sort of shock to our economy since the Second WorldWar.

KIERAN GILBERT:
Is the Federal Government optimistic that the New South Wales lockdown will endon Friday as scheduled?

MINISTER RUSTON:
We're certainly listening to the Premier from New South Wales. She seems quiteconfident that they're on top of it. My understanding is that the number ofcases of community transmission or people who've actually been out in thecommunity is dropping significantly. The people that they're now finding arepeople that are associated with clusters. I mean we all hope that we'll be opento the state up on Friday in New South Wales but of course the uncertainty ofthis virus, the virulence of the Delta strain is something we haven't seenbefore but New South Wales have got a track record of getting these thingsunder control and I see no reason why they won't do it this time.

KIERAN GILBERT:
You've got on another matter a women's summit planned for later this month. TheNew South Wales Government released an enquiry in the last week or so regardingcoercive control. In fact, it was a parliamentary enquiry, multi-party. Itfound that coercive control should be criminalised amid a pandemic of domesticabuse. Do you agree with that? Should it be criminalised?

MINISTER RUSTON:
Well look I really thank the New South Wales Government. It was an amazing bodyof work that they've provided and it will be something that will be discussedat the summit that's coming up at the end of July, but we know that coercivecontrol and all the things that make up coercive control are often precursorsto more violent behaviour in domestic and family violence and if we are able touse laws and the legal fraternity to enable us to be able to get earlier accessto be able to support people when we see these early signs of domestic violencethen that can only be a good thing. The other really good thing about this andparticularly about the summit, is that about taking a more coordinated approachmaking sure that the legal system and the specialist family domestic violencesector are all working together so that we can get a better understanding sothat we can get early intervention in place because we need to stop the scourgethat is domestic violence and the best way we can do it is by prevention and earlyintervention because we just cannot keep seeing the numbers of women who arehospitalised and sometimes tragically killed at the hands of an intimatepartner, it is just unacceptable.

KIERAN GILBERT:
Well we will talk to you in the lead up to the summit on July 29 and July 30and cover that very important meeting and hopefully some significant outcomesfrom it. Anne Ruston, I appreciate your time as always. Thanks.

MINISTER RUSTON:
Thanks Kieran.

 ENDS