Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Senator Sam McMahon

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Katie Woolf spoke with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Senator Sam McMahon · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: Perfect weather I think you'd have to say for the
0:02
Speaker 1: visit of a Prime minister. And joining us in the
0:05
Speaker 1: studio is the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.
0:07
Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning. It's great to be here, it is.
0:09
Speaker 1: And it's great weather. Really for you is.
0:11
Speaker 2: That it's stunning and it's great to be here with
0:14
Speaker 2: Sam McMahon as well.
0:15
Speaker 3: And spent the last twenty four hours doing quite a
0:18
Speaker 3: bit actually, and we just came from a meeting with
0:20
Speaker 3: all the local tourism operators, so it's been a great
0:23
Speaker 3: opportunity to get a lot of feedback but also for
0:25
Speaker 3: me to be able to say thank you to Territorians.
0:27
Speaker 3: They've done such an amazing job during the course of COVID.
0:30
Speaker 3: Thank you to the territory.
0:31
Speaker 1: It has been a tough time. I think it's been
0:33
Speaker 1: a tough time for all Australians, but we do have
0:36
Speaker 1: the Senator for the Northern Territory, Sam McMahon in the
0:38
Speaker 1: studio with us as well. Good morning, Sam, Good morning Katie.
0:41
Speaker 4: And yesterday I spoke to you on your show and
0:43
Speaker 4: you are asked for the Prime Minister and.
0:47
Speaker 1: Nice to be here here it is. It is great
0:48
Speaker 1: to have you here now you did mention that obviously
0:51
Speaker 1: caught up with the tourism sector this morning. What did
0:54
Speaker 1: you have to say to them? I know it has
0:55
Speaker 1: been a tough time for them.
0:56
Speaker 3: Well again it was a message of thank you, but
0:58
Speaker 3: it was also an opportunity to get back from them
1:00
Speaker 3: first hound how they're traveling and they've seen a massive
1:03
Speaker 3: pickup in their bookings. We've seen that the success of
1:06
Speaker 3: the half priced tickets has had a big impact up here,
1:09
Speaker 3: but as the domestic tourism marketers continue to pick up,
1:12
Speaker 3: their problem now is stuff that's the big problem and
1:16
Speaker 3: that also came through in the discussions I've been having here.
1:19
Speaker 4: Men.
1:19
Speaker 3: Sam's always been mentioning that, as is Leayer and Chief
1:22
Speaker 3: Ministry and others. So this is the next challenge. We
1:25
Speaker 3: got through the COVID challenge of last year. COVID hasn't
1:28
Speaker 3: gone away. That's still something we need to stay on
1:30
Speaker 3: top of. But now we need to address these workforce
1:33
Speaker 3: shortage challenges here in the territory.
1:35
Speaker 1: Now. I know that we've spoken on numerous occasions to
1:37
Speaker 1: the likes of Hospitality and Too. We've also spoken to
1:40
Speaker 1: Tourism Central Australia, Tourism top End. I've spoken to the
1:43
Speaker 1: Senator about these concerns when it comes to filling these jobs.
1:47
Speaker 1: But what we've heard as well is that it's not
1:49
Speaker 1: just about trying to attract people from into state. They're
1:51
Speaker 1: wondering whether we may be able to actually bring people
1:54
Speaker 1: from overseas, from some of those safe countries bring them
1:58
Speaker 1: here to the territory to fill some of those said
2:00
Speaker 1: unfortunately we're not currently able to film.
2:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they're the options we certainly have to
2:05
Speaker 3: look at. I mean, Howard Springs is, in my view,
2:08
Speaker 3: I think has a great claim to be the world's
2:10
Speaker 3: most successful quarantine facility. During COVID zero breaches had I
2:14
Speaker 3: think over thirty flights, direct flights, chartered flights that were
2:17
Speaker 3: brought in there, hundreds and hundreds thousands of people come
2:20
Speaker 3: through and they've done an amazing job. And yesterday I
2:23
Speaker 3: had the opportunity to thank everybody at oz Madton who's
2:26
Speaker 3: done a great job setting of that up and getting
2:28
Speaker 3: that going. So the territory has shown that they can
2:31
Speaker 3: do this very effectively. There are many other facilities up
2:34
Speaker 3: here that potentially can provide that commercially, and I know
2:39
Speaker 3: it means a lot to not just the hospitality sector,
2:42
Speaker 3: but the horticultural sector, the construction sector. I mean, workforce
2:45
Speaker 3: shortages is not a new issue in the Northern Territory,
2:47
Speaker 3: but it has become more acute because of COVID and
2:50
Speaker 3: it is more pronounced here. So whether it's extending working
2:55
Speaker 3: hours for those here on existing visas or extending their visas,
2:58
Speaker 3: all of that can be done here in the territory.
3:01
Speaker 3: I don't think that alone is going to solve the problem,
3:03
Speaker 3: because if we extend say working our arrangements, well, a
3:06
Speaker 3: lot of those people are actually down in the Southern
3:08
Speaker 3: States and there are shortages there in the hospitality sector
3:12
Speaker 3: to there, so they'll go into those jobs. So who's
3:14
Speaker 3: coming to Darwin, Who's coming to our springs? And so
3:18
Speaker 3: having something a bit more bespoke for the territory I
3:21
Speaker 3: think is very warranted based on what I've heard here.
3:24
Speaker 1: Could that involve flying workers across from some of those
3:27
Speaker 1: countries that are safe and similar to what we looked
3:29
Speaker 1: at doing with Benawasha.
3:30
Speaker 3: We're already that's already a model we've been using, particularly
3:33
Speaker 3: in the agricultural sector, and that's worked I think very
3:36
Speaker 3: well up here. But I mean the big challenge here
3:38
Speaker 3: is that we normally have that large backpacker workforce and
3:41
Speaker 3: that's obviously not here because of COVID. That's nobody's fault,
3:44
Speaker 3: it's just how it is. And we can't open up
3:46
Speaker 3: the borders willy nilly because we know what that would
3:49
Speaker 3: happen in terms of what would happen in terms of COVID,
3:51
Speaker 3: not just here but right across the country. And the
3:54
Speaker 3: Territory has just done such a fantastic job protecting the
3:57
Speaker 3: rest of Australia through us bringing back those chartered flights
4:01
Speaker 3: and then half a million Australians have come back from
4:04
Speaker 3: overseas over the course of COVID and the Territory has
4:06
Speaker 3: done some real heavy lifting there with New South Wales
4:08
Speaker 3: to achieve that. But you know, we've got to keep
4:11
Speaker 3: Australia COVID safe and keep COVID out of the country.
4:14
Speaker 3: But you know this can be done, but it's going
4:16
Speaker 3: to require a partnership I think between the commercial sector,
4:19
Speaker 3: the private sector, ourselves and ultimately the Northern Territory Government
4:24
Speaker 3: has to be comfortable and sign off on all the
4:25
Speaker 3: health issues.
4:26
Speaker 1: And so Senator, is that something that you're going to
4:28
Speaker 1: now work with the Prime Minister on to try to
4:30
Speaker 1: make sure that we are able to bring some of
4:32
Speaker 1: these workers across.
4:33
Speaker 2: Oh. Absolutely, Katie.
4:34
Speaker 4: And the other thing that I've been working on with
4:37
Speaker 4: CDU is the option of bringing in international students and
4:42
Speaker 4: using Bladen Village as a quarantine for them. CDU is
4:46
Speaker 4: quite keen obviously because it's a win for them and
4:49
Speaker 4: it would also provide a workforce for the hospitality industry.
4:52
Speaker 2: So there's there's lots of options.
4:54
Speaker 3: There's a win win and that Chief Minister Michael and
4:57
Speaker 3: I had discussed this yesterday and that's one of the
5:00
Speaker 3: things that it's already on our agenda, but it's been
5:04
Speaker 3: reinforced and Lea and I spoke about it yesterday as well.
5:08
Speaker 3: So there's a very good awareness of this and I
5:10
Speaker 3: think there's a good will to try and find practical solutions.
5:13
Speaker 3: And you're ever going to find practical solutions. It's going
5:16
Speaker 3: to come out of the territory.
5:16
Speaker 1: So how soon could this happen? Prime Minister House.
5:20
Speaker 3: I generally you don't want to give a commitment on
5:21
Speaker 3: that at this point. I think we've got to work
5:23
Speaker 3: through what the options are, how you do it safely.
5:26
Speaker 3: That's really important. I mean, it's not just about finding
5:29
Speaker 3: a mining camp with some bets. It's much more complicated
5:32
Speaker 3: than that. You need the infection control, you need the
5:34
Speaker 3: health workforce, you need the security controls, you need the transfers,
5:37
Speaker 3: you need the flights. So it is a I mean,
5:40
Speaker 3: we're spending half a billion dollars on how it springs
5:43
Speaker 3: out till the end at the end of this year.
5:46
Speaker 2: So it is an enormous undertaking.
5:48
Speaker 3: And so Conwealth isn't suggesting that it would have to
5:51
Speaker 3: be a partnership with a commercial sector, whether it's the universities,
5:54
Speaker 3: whether it's the big industries.
5:56
Speaker 2: Here.
5:56
Speaker 3: I mean, there are the facilities, there are the facilities,
5:59
Speaker 3: but the harder part is actually the workforce that supports
6:02
Speaker 3: those quarantine facilities to facilitate this.
6:05
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to talk about about the Howard Springs
6:08
Speaker 1: facility and the success of that facility. I know that
6:10
Speaker 1: you went out yesterday and caught up with the National
6:12
Speaker 1: Critical Care and Trauma Response Team, the once MAAT team.
6:15
Speaker 1: They are phenomenal. We call them the Swiss Army Knife
6:18
Speaker 1: of the of the medical profession. Phenomenal. The work they
6:23
Speaker 1: do is simply is simply fantastic. But there are a
6:26
Speaker 1: lot of Territorians who are really concerned right now about
6:30
Speaker 1: that team transitioning out of the Howard Springs facility from
6:33
Speaker 1: next week. Is this something that worries.
6:36
Speaker 3: You, well, our medical advice is that we can make
6:39
Speaker 3: that transition and what Kath out there and her team
6:43
Speaker 3: have done it is simply amazing.
6:44
Speaker 2: We've got to remember os MATT is.
6:46
Speaker 3: A dedicated task, special capability and when Lenda Taras sort
6:52
Speaker 3: of set that up after the Bali bombings, I mean
6:53
Speaker 3: it is one of the great success stories of the
6:56
Speaker 3: territory in Australia. What has been chead through that center.
6:58
Speaker 3: It is world class and its capability gets called on
7:03
Speaker 3: for any number of situations that Australia could face or
7:06
Speaker 3: indeed in our region. So they've done an amazing job
7:10
Speaker 3: sitting this up. Of course, it'd be wonderful if they
7:12
Speaker 3: could run everything and do it everywhere, but there's just
7:14
Speaker 3: not that capability to do that, and we need them
7:17
Speaker 3: to continue to be available to deploy in any number
7:21
Speaker 3: of other situations. So they have done an amazing job
7:24
Speaker 3: setting this up. The transfer process, I think we'll see
7:27
Speaker 3: a massive particularly on the contracted staff carryover between the two.
7:32
Speaker 3: The protocols, the disciplines and all of this has been established.
7:35
Speaker 3: Now this job now is being taken up by the
7:38
Speaker 3: North Tarrity government. We're working with them to achieve what
7:40
Speaker 3: they need to achieve. They need to meet the same
7:43
Speaker 3: standards that Osmatter has put in place. They know that's
7:45
Speaker 3: their job, and I know the Chief Minister is very
7:49
Speaker 3: adamant about that as well, and I'm sure Lea will
7:52
Speaker 3: keep it close eye on it as well well.
7:54
Speaker 1: Four hundred staff is what they have flagged that they
7:56
Speaker 1: need to recruit across the board, obviously, not just medical staff,
7:59
Speaker 1: but other staff. They're currently sitting at seventy. Is that
8:01
Speaker 1: a worry.
8:03
Speaker 3: You'll see a lot of existing staff translate over. People
8:06
Speaker 3: are already working out there now we'll be just working
8:08
Speaker 3: there under a different arrangement. And at this stage that
8:12
Speaker 3: is not being flagged to me as an issue. But
8:16
Speaker 3: if it were to be, then obviously we would have
8:18
Speaker 3: to look at what our options were. But that's not
8:20
Speaker 3: the case at the moment, so I think it's important
8:23
Speaker 3: to let them just get on with the job of
8:24
Speaker 3: the transition. This is a facility that's not going anywhere
8:27
Speaker 3: anytime soon. It's important to appreciate that when this was
8:30
Speaker 3: set up, remember we set up Howard Springs and we
8:34
Speaker 3: work closely with the Northern Territory government to get that
8:36
Speaker 3: in place, working closely with the community. At that time,
8:38
Speaker 3: it was effectively a crisis facility. We were bringing people
8:41
Speaker 3: out of Wuhun at that time, the origin and epicenter
8:47
Speaker 3: of the pandemic, and they move quickly and swiftly.
8:51
Speaker 2: It was set up.
8:51
Speaker 3: It's been very successful. Now we'll be looking at these
8:55
Speaker 3: quarantine facilities for a considerable time ahead and to have,
9:00
Speaker 3: if you like, our special forces type elite level medical
9:04
Speaker 3: teams tied up in such a large facility for a
9:08
Speaker 3: long time and the capability they have, you've got to
9:12
Speaker 3: think about the wisdom of doing that over a sustained period,
9:15
Speaker 3: I mean having them there for years to come. Well,
9:19
Speaker 3: that could really compromise their ability to respond to other crises.
9:22
Speaker 1: Now, currently we have got fifty four active cases out
9:26
Speaker 1: there at Howard Springs. The majority of those have come
9:28
Speaker 1: in really in recent days and weeks as a result
9:31
Speaker 1: of those India repatriation flights. You've halted those flights. How
9:35
Speaker 1: long are they going to be halted for?
9:36
Speaker 3: Well, initially we've holded them till the fifteenth of May
9:39
Speaker 3: and we'll consider it again close to that time. That
9:43
Speaker 3: they are repatriation flights that the Conmworth government is running,
9:48
Speaker 3: so they're not commercial flights, so we can turn those
9:50
Speaker 3: flights on and off. We have to be careful about
9:55
Speaker 3: the significant increase in the rate of infection that we
9:58
Speaker 3: saw coming through from those more recent flights. I mean,
10:01
Speaker 3: what's happening India is absolutely heartbreaking, and I know here
10:05
Speaker 3: in the territory, particularly in Darwin, one of the if
10:07
Speaker 3: not the most strongest multicultural community anywhere in the country.
10:11
Speaker 3: There will be people listening to me. Now there wouldn't.
10:14
Speaker 3: I find it hard that there'd be any Indian Australian
10:17
Speaker 3: family in the country that somehow isn't being affected by this,
10:21
Speaker 3: and so we're very concerned for them. Our Department of
10:24
Speaker 3: Home Affairs, our Immigration Minister is reaching out to these communities.
10:27
Speaker 3: I was on a Multicultural Communities called yesterday about this,
10:31
Speaker 3: just getting the feedback, getting information to people. I would
10:35
Speaker 3: like to see those repat flights start again after that
10:37
Speaker 3: fifteen May period, but obviously we've got to take the
10:39
Speaker 3: medical advice. But from what I saw yesterday and talking
10:42
Speaker 3: to those on the ground, I think that sort of
10:44
Speaker 3: two week pause. We'll see us just got to get
10:47
Speaker 3: over a bit of a hump when it comes to
10:50
Speaker 3: the number of cases being at an elevated level, and
10:53
Speaker 3: we will hopefully been able to restore that. The other
10:55
Speaker 3: point is this, we're going from eight hundred to two
10:58
Speaker 3: thousand now. When we set up the National Resilience Center,
11:02
Speaker 3: that it was already there in terms of what were
11:05
Speaker 3: established to bring people back from Wilhar, but then we
11:07
Speaker 3: established it as the national facility to bring back chartered flights.
11:11
Speaker 3: That was recommended by the Jane Holton Review. That was
11:14
Speaker 3: the common wealths role when it came to quarantine and
11:17
Speaker 3: as I said, we've invested, We've committed half a billion
11:20
Speaker 3: dollars to that effort. Now we decided to upscale that
11:23
Speaker 3: to take it from eight hundred to two thousand, and
11:25
Speaker 3: that has been done over the course of this next month.
11:28
Speaker 3: And that is where Australia, the Commwalth government is supplementing
11:31
Speaker 3: the broader quarantine capabilities across the country.
11:34
Speaker 1: And so if we don't have those additional numbers going
11:36
Speaker 1: through the hard Springs Center for National Resilience, is that
11:39
Speaker 1: funding going to come down.
11:41
Speaker 3: Well, there's operational funding and that's a function of how
11:45
Speaker 3: many people are going through the center, but it's demand driven.
11:48
Speaker 3: There's base costs and other things that are obviously in
11:52
Speaker 3: that amount as well, and those costs are there whether
11:54
Speaker 3: there are people there or not, as is the case
11:56
Speaker 3: with any facility, but we intend to utilize this capacity
12:00
Speaker 3: because this is where we're bringing the chartered flights in from.
12:03
Speaker 3: And this is why I think the Territory is just
12:06
Speaker 3: doing such an amazing job because these are the most
12:09
Speaker 3: desperate cases that we're bringing back that we on our
12:13
Speaker 3: flights that we're chartering. The focuses on the most vulnerable
12:16
Speaker 3: people and so obviously for those in India at the
12:19
Speaker 3: moment and Australian through in India that they're not in
12:22
Speaker 3: New Delhi or in Mumbai, that they are all over
12:25
Speaker 3: the country. And to get the most vulnerable it's a
12:29
Speaker 3: few here, a few there, few there, and to get
12:31
Speaker 3: them to the cities where you need to transfer them
12:33
Speaker 3: in India is a huge job for our High Commission
12:35
Speaker 3: over there, Barrier Farrell, and it is a major humanitarian crisis.
12:40
Speaker 1: Prime ministerial power through because there's a lot happening this
12:42
Speaker 1: morning and we don't get you here very often. We're
12:44
Speaker 1: very keen to ask you a few more questions. Nine
12:46
Speaker 1: News is reporting this morning that Australia's medical regulator is
12:49
Speaker 1: urgently investigating after two people died days after being vaccinated
12:54
Speaker 1: against COVID nineteen. The Therapeutic Drugs Administration is working to
12:58
Speaker 1: understand the reason behind both of these cases, but say
13:01
Speaker 1: no lenk's been established to the JAB. A fifty five
13:04
Speaker 1: year old man, though, died in Tamworth Hospital due to
13:07
Speaker 1: blood clots to his lungs eight days after receiving the vaccine.
13:12
Speaker 1: I mean, does this make you, as the Prime Minister,
13:14
Speaker 1: have a look at the way the vaccine's rolling out
13:16
Speaker 1: and you know, think about whether we do need to
13:19
Speaker 1: change things.
13:20
Speaker 3: The Therapeutic Goods Administration and doing their job, and you've
13:23
Speaker 3: just read out exactly what they've said so far on that,
13:26
Speaker 3: and I think Australians can have a lot of confidence
13:28
Speaker 3: in the TGA. It is one of the best, if
13:29
Speaker 3: not the best, medicines regulator anywhere in the world, and
13:34
Speaker 3: they went through a no corners cut process of assessing
13:39
Speaker 3: the vaccines in Australia and their investigators move on these
13:43
Speaker 3: issues very quickly. So I think what's important when we
13:46
Speaker 3: talk about these issues, that we allow the medical experts
13:49
Speaker 3: to do their job and do advise us. What this
13:51
Speaker 3: means I mean to look at these issues superficially. I'm
13:54
Speaker 3: not suggesting that's what you're doing. I'm just saying we've
13:56
Speaker 3: got to be careful how we talk about these cases.
13:59
Speaker 3: Let's allow them me dical facts to be established, and
14:01
Speaker 3: let's make decisions based on facts.
14:03
Speaker 1: Prime Minister. Yesterday, obviously you made a massive announcement seven
14:06
Speaker 1: hundred and forty seven million dollars on those four Northern
14:09
Speaker 1: Territory ADF training sites. There has been concern obviously about
14:14
Speaker 1: our relationship with China. Is this spend and is this
14:16
Speaker 1: bolstering about making sure that we are prepared should something
14:21
Speaker 1: things turn not so good?
14:23
Speaker 3: Well, our force posture settings are constantly reviewed and I
14:28
Speaker 3: announced a major change to those last year and that
14:31
Speaker 3: has obviously implications for how we train our forces. And
14:34
Speaker 3: that's what this announcement follows through on. I mean, this
14:37
Speaker 3: process began several years ago and when it was first scoped,
14:41
Speaker 3: and that scoping changed significantly after the middle of last year,
14:44
Speaker 3: and that's why it is now, as you say, the
14:46
Speaker 3: investment of some seven hundred and forty seven million. The
14:50
Speaker 3: cost didn't change, the work changed. The scale of what
14:53
Speaker 3: we're doing changed and where we want to do it
14:55
Speaker 3: and in particular down at Bradshaw, I mean what we're
14:59
Speaker 3: able to do. And Bradshaw is one of the most
15:02
Speaker 3: unique training facilities for our forces anywhereund the world, and
15:05
Speaker 3: that's true for the Americans who are also here. And
15:07
Speaker 3: what we've been limited in doing there relates to medical
15:11
Speaker 3: evacuations and things of that nature. So the sort of
15:14
Speaker 3: things we're doing is putting that sort of facility in
15:16
Speaker 3: place there, which means we can use those training areas
15:19
Speaker 3: much more than we were before, and that means the
15:21
Speaker 3: joint operability of our forces with the Americans is far
15:25
Speaker 3: more possible. And so this just means that our forces
15:28
Speaker 3: can be as ready as they can be for whatever
15:31
Speaker 3: particular threat we have to address. And so I'm not
15:33
Speaker 3: overstating anyone I mean threat or any issue. We scan
15:37
Speaker 3: the horizon and we understand what Australia's national interests are
15:41
Speaker 3: and then we equip our forces accordingly. But the purpose
15:44
Speaker 3: of our defense forces are peace. The purposes of having
15:47
Speaker 3: a defense forces to ensure really, at the end of
15:51
Speaker 3: the day that you would hope you would never have
15:52
Speaker 3: to deploy them. Sadly, we've had to deploy in many cases,
15:55
Speaker 3: and we're just in the stages of our final withdraw
15:58
Speaker 3: out Afghanistan. There be many vets up here and those
16:01
Speaker 3: have served who served in Afghanistan, and on Anzac Day
16:04
Speaker 3: we particularly remembered those forty one Australians who lost their
16:07
Speaker 3: lives in Afghanistan, and I know that has been a
16:09
Speaker 3: very demanding and difficult time for veterans and that announcement
16:17
Speaker 3: I know would have had a big.
16:17
Speaker 2: Impact on them.
16:18
Speaker 1: Prime Minister, whenever we talk about our relationship with China,
16:22
Speaker 1: the Darwin Port is always something that's raised. In fact,
16:25
Speaker 1: you know, in my time in this role, when that
16:28
Speaker 1: lease first happened, it was something that we were in undated.
16:30
Speaker 1: We'd talked back callers about people were really very concerned
16:33
Speaker 1: about that lease. The Lise has still got ninety years
16:36
Speaker 1: to go with the land Bridge Group. Are you looking
16:39
Speaker 1: at that current contract to see if it does well,
16:42
Speaker 1: if it is in the national interest and really whether
16:46
Speaker 1: we should have our lease to a Chinese company, Well,
16:49
Speaker 1: not the territory.
16:49
Speaker 3: Government, you know at the time were the ones who
16:51
Speaker 3: entered into that lease and the Conwath government had no
16:54
Speaker 3: role in that process. We had no veto role in
16:57
Speaker 3: the sale the lease of the Darwin Port, none whatsoever.
17:00
Speaker 3: And so that was a decision of the former Northern
17:02
Speaker 3: Territory government, not the Comonwealth government. And I know Anthony
17:05
Speaker 3: Albanezi likes to put that around, it's just not true.
17:08
Speaker 3: The Comonwealth government, I no other minister had a role
17:10
Speaker 3: in that lease. It was done locally here. What we
17:14
Speaker 3: did is because the Commonwealth didn't have a power to
17:17
Speaker 3: do that is I worked with the States and territories
17:19
Speaker 3: then as treasure to make sure that in the future
17:21
Speaker 3: any common Wealth government would have that power.
17:24
Speaker 2: And the Treasurer does now have that power.
17:26
Speaker 1: If you had that power at the time, would you
17:27
Speaker 1: have allowed it to happen?
17:28
Speaker 3: Well, look, I wasn't getting the briefs on the issue
17:32
Speaker 3: at the time, and the Defense Forces, the then Secretary,
17:36
Speaker 3: mister Richardson, had made a number of comments to the
17:38
Speaker 3: then Northern Territory government. And whether that reflected more broadly
17:42
Speaker 3: that the advice the Defense Department would have provided to
17:45
Speaker 3: the Comonwalth.
17:45
Speaker 2: It's hard to say.
17:46
Speaker 3: I can't go back in a time machine, but I
17:48
Speaker 3: can tell you this every decision I've ever made when
17:51
Speaker 3: it comes when I was Treasurer, and that was to
17:54
Speaker 3: say no to the Kidman transaction, to say no it's
17:57
Speaker 3: a major energy investments in a range of other things.
18:00
Speaker 3: Of those decisions were based on protecting Australia's national interests
18:03
Speaker 3: and I.
18:04
Speaker 2: Would always do that now.
18:05
Speaker 3: If there was any ever change to the assessment about
18:08
Speaker 3: the national interest to implications of operations at that port
18:12
Speaker 3: or what is happening there, you could expect me to
18:14
Speaker 3: take action on that. But that is not something that
18:17
Speaker 3: has been presented to me or suggested to me.
18:19
Speaker 1: What do you think the reaction from China would be.
18:23
Speaker 3: Well, I wouldn't speculate. I don't think it's helpful to
18:26
Speaker 3: speculate about decisions that the government hasn't taken. I think
18:29
Speaker 3: it's important the government acts and the national interest listens
18:32
Speaker 3: to our defense and intelligence and security advisors when it.
18:35
Speaker 2: Comes to these.
18:36
Speaker 3: I mean people in Darwin would understand it's not the
18:38
Speaker 3: whole port area of Darwin. I mean it has a name,
18:42
Speaker 3: the Port of Dahowan, but it's actually not the whole
18:44
Speaker 3: port area of Darwin. It's a section of it, and
18:48
Speaker 3: that the military and defense capabilities are not compromised by that,
18:53
Speaker 3: and that's understood. But I understand the perception here. But
18:56
Speaker 3: what has to determine our decisions has to be the
18:59
Speaker 3: national in and it has to be based on proper
19:02
Speaker 3: advice from defense and security and intelligence agencies.
19:05
Speaker 1: Prime Minister, we are getting the hurry up. So I
19:07
Speaker 1: do just want to ask you very briefly about funding
19:10
Speaker 1: for remote police stations. This is something that Senator Sam
19:12
Speaker 1: McMahon has spoken to us about on numerous occasions. The
19:15
Speaker 1: funding agreement is due to expire next year. The Police
19:18
Speaker 1: Association has said on this show that should that funding
19:21
Speaker 1: be ceased, some remote stations would shut overnight. Is the
19:25
Speaker 1: federal government's intention here to continue with that funding.
19:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I am concerned about this.
19:30
Speaker 3: I mean, we put the funding in place for all
19:32
Speaker 3: those right reasons because of what wasn't happening here at
19:37
Speaker 3: a territory level. So the Colmworth once again had to
19:39
Speaker 3: sort of step up and fill the gap. Now Lee
19:42
Speaker 3: has also been raising this way. I met with Lee
19:44
Speaker 3: yesterday and this was one of the most important issues
19:46
Speaker 3: she raised with me. She's been very focused on law
19:48
Speaker 3: and order issues up here in the territory. Had a
19:51
Speaker 3: great meeting also with the Chief Minister yesterday. As we're
19:53
Speaker 3: talking about some other issues, but when it comes to
19:57
Speaker 3: this law and order issue, we're very conscious of it.
19:59
Speaker 3: Sam's been raising it a well and so you know we'll
20:02
Speaker 3: be looking at that very carefully. I understand the great
20:04
Speaker 3: work that's been done in those communities. I think what
20:08
Speaker 3: the territory police do in difficult circumstances, and we've just
20:12
Speaker 3: I mean I've only just been brief before coming in
20:14
Speaker 3: here on the terrible, the terrible circumstances in one of
20:19
Speaker 3: those communities just just recently, just over the last night,
20:23
Speaker 3: and that that I think that just makes you shudder.
20:26
Speaker 3: And so clearly there's a very strong need and I'm
20:30
Speaker 3: not one to look the other way when it comes
20:31
Speaker 3: to the need when it comes to law enforcement.
20:33
Speaker 1: So really leaving the door open there in terms of
20:36
Speaker 1: that funding.
20:37
Speaker 2: I think that's a fair way to put it.
20:40
Speaker 1: We will have to wrap up. I really appreciate you
20:42
Speaker 1: both coming into the studio with the this morning, Senator
20:45
Speaker 1: Sam McMahon. Always good to catch up with you, and
20:48
Speaker 1: thank you Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Mate. I understand you
20:51
Speaker 1: had a beer last night with.
20:52
Speaker 3: Merv hughs did well. It wasn't it wasn't planned. I
20:56
Speaker 3: worked in there and there's big nerve at the table.
20:58
Speaker 3: He's been out fishing. And what was even funnier is
21:01
Speaker 3: but I mean when I had a chat and about
21:04
Speaker 3: a number of things. He's a lovely fellow and his
21:06
Speaker 3: mates who were there, but he was still there when
21:08
Speaker 3: I left.
21:10
Speaker 2: Much later that I.
21:12
Speaker 1: Didn't run into my producer Ronnie. I think she's got
21:14
Speaker 1: a chair just about aftercab. Thank you so great.
21:20
Speaker 3: It's great to be looking forward to coming back. National
21:22
Speaker 3: Cabinets meeting up here in July, so we'll be back
21:25
Speaker 3: here and that will have a very significant focus on
21:27
Speaker 3: women's safety and as well as women's economic security, and
21:31
Speaker 3: so we're looking forward to that meeting and I'm looking
21:34
Speaker 3: forward to coming back.
21:34
Speaker 1: All right, we'll catch up with you then you on
21:36
Speaker 1: you thanks so much for your time this morning. You
21:38
Speaker 1: are listening to Mix one O four point nine is
21:40
Speaker 1: three sixty