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The Hon. Scott Morrison MP TRANSCRIPT PRESS The Hon. Scott Morrison MP Prime Minister TRANSCRIPT PRESS CONFERENCE AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT HOUSE, ACT TUESDAY 7 APRIL 2020 EO&E… PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm joined by Professor Murphy, as usual. Together we are making significant progress. Around 6,000 cases across Australia, less than 10 per cent of those coming through community transmission at this point. We have so far avoided the many thousands, if not tens of thousands, of cases that may have otherwise occurred by this point across the Australian community, and indeed the many more fatalities that could have also have occurred by this point. The daily growth rate in cases has now fallen to just a few percentage points per day. This has occurred quite rapidly. In fact, it has occurred well beyond our expectations, in the way that we have been able to bring that daily growth rate down together, and certainly ahead of what all the theoretical models would have suggested. But we must hold the course. We must lock in these gains. It is providing us with much-needed time. We have so far avoided the horror scenarios that we have seen overseas, whether it be initially in China in Wuhan, or in New York in the United States, or Italy, or Spain, or even the United Kingdom. And just on the United Kingdom, we extend our deepest concerns and expressions of support for Prime Minister Johnson at this very difficult time for him and his family. They do not have the opportunity in all of these places that we're seeing from here, that we have right here and right now. The combination of our health and economic responses is giving us the opportunity, as a National Cabinet, individual governments across Australia and, of course, at the federal level, to plan our way through and out of these crises. We have bought valuable time, but we cannot be complacent. We must keep the tension in the cord. This Easter weekend will be incredibly important. Stay at home. Failure to do so this weekend would completely undo everything we have achieved so far together, and potentially worse. So, all the things we have been asking you to do, day in, day out, they apply especially so this long weekend of the Easter weekend. When you normally may have gone out together as family and been out in public places and parks, or gone away, or wherever you might have been, that is not something you can do this Easter long weekend. We have already seen in other countries where major festivals or events or holiday periods have been the spark for significant outbreaks elsewhere in the world. I was only speaking to Prime Minister Modi yesterday, and he was recounting a similar event that occurred in India recently. And so it is very important all Australians this weekend, that you must follow these very helpful and straightforward requests that we make of you in terms of your movements this weekend. Today, the National Cabinet met to consider a series of issues, including further reports from the expert medical panel, and Professor Murphy will take you through some of those matters shortly, as also work on the commercial tenancies code. After reviewing the data on progress, Professor Murphy stepped the National Cabinet through the academic modelling work that has been undertaken by the Doherty Institute that they will be releasing later today. Professor Murphy will take you through that modelling work very, very shortly. But I want to be clear about a couple of things first. You will have what we have. This is the modelling work that is available to the Government. It is the full complement of what we have available to us. The modelling work is theoretical. It is not based on Australian case data and does not model Australian responses. The modelling does not predict what will happen in Australia. It does not tell you how many Australians will contract the virus or how many may succumb to that virus, or how long it will last in Australia. The modelling work is based on international data. The early work that we had that I shared with Professor Kelly earlier was based mainly on data that had been extracted from the Chinese experience. This modelling data draws on a broader international data set that has been made available since that time. And what it does is it proves up the theory of flattening the curve. It confirms, based on that international data, that by taking the measures we are taking, you can make a difference. And, indeed, that is what we are experiencing here in Australia. We are on the right track. Controlling the spread, boosting the capacity of our health system, and buying time, giving us the opportunity for more choices. National Cabinet, of course, will be seeking further modelling work to be done, that it does incorporate Australian case data and modelling of the Australian responses. But part of our modest success to date means that the number of cases, particularly those through community transmission, is still quite low, which does not present a very big case base to do a lot of that work at this stage. But we are keen to see that work broken down to state level jurisdictions because, of course, the experience in different states and the capacities of their health systems are different in each jurisdiction. So, the National Cabinet fully understands the limitations of this work. And so for those who might have thought today they were going to have predictions on these things, that is not what is being presented today. And I would urge those who are reporting on it not to present it in that light. It would be misleading. But it will help us work through into the future this type of work, particularly when we get more of the Australian case data incorporated into this modelling. It will help us plan the way out. For now, and certainly over the weeks ahead, though, the lesson is simple, and that is that we must continue to do what we are doing. That is how we get through this. But there is still quite a journey ahead. So, we need to just continue to adjust and adapt. Today the AHPPC considered and put forward a number of recommendations to National Cabinet, and again I will ask Professor Murphy to take you through those. But I do want to run you through very briefly the decision today on the commercial tenancies code. Now, as you know, a key part of our Government's strategy at a federal level, working with the states and territories, is what has been called the hibernation strategy. And what that means is being able to preserve as much of the foundations and pillars of our economy through this time to enable the economy to rebuild and grow on the other side. That means keeping the jobs, it means keeping the businesses, it means keeping the tenancies in place, it means keeping the loans in place, keeping the credit lines open, to ensure that the liabilities that are established, or protecting against insolvencies and bankruptcies, so on the other side of these crises the economy will be able to rebuild and rebound again. And the commercial tenancies actions are very important. Now, I want to thank very much the states and territories, in particular the treasurers of the states and territories who have been working keenly on this issue over these past 10 days or so. I also want to thank the many industry players who fed into the work of this code, both tenants and landlords alike. And it is agreed by National Cabinet today that a mandatory code will be legislated and regulated as is appropriate in each state and territory jurisdiction. That mandatory code will apply to tenancies where the tenant or landlord is eligible for the JobKeeper Program, so that defines a tenant or a landlord who would be in a position of distress, where they have a turnover of $50 million or less. So, the code is designed to support those small and medium-sized enterprises, be they a tenant or indeed a landlord. The code brings together a set of good-faith leasing principles. Landlords must not terminate the lease or draw on a tenant's security. Likewise, tenants must honour the lease. Landlords will be required to reduce rent proportionate to the trading reduction in the tenant's business, through a combination - over the course of the pandemic period - through a combination of waivers of rent and deferrals of rent. Waivers of rent must account for 50 per cent at least, of the reduction in the rental provided to the tenant during that period and deferrals must be covered over the balance of the lease term and in no less period than 12 months (sic: 24 months). So, if the lease term goes for three years, you can amortize the cost of lease of the rental deferral over that three year period, after the end of the pandemic period. But if the lease only has another six months to run, the tenant would have a minimum of 12 months (sic: 24 months). after the pandemic period in order to cover up on the deferrals of the rental payments. The arrangements will be overseen through a binding mediation process. All of this will be run by the states and the territories. The point here is simple - it's the same request we made of landlords and tenants about 10 days or so ago when I stood up on this issue, and that is that they sit down and they work it out.
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