CHRIS KENNY: Michaelia Cash, thanks for joining us. This three step plan to get the country moving again. The first I suppose deliverable for small business is that restaurants and cafes can have 10 customers. But very few of them are going to be able to open and be profitable with only 10 customers are they?

MINISTER CASH: The good news is today we took those first steps towards formally reopening the Australian economy. We’ve always made it very clear that the advice that we take is on the very best medical advice and the lifting of the restrictions is based on that. I have to say- it has though been welcomed by small business in particular that they’ve been given that green light. That there is now a pathway forward. We hope that pathway takes us through to July where we see within reason people back at work and businesses back in business.

CHRIS KENNY: There’s no doubt it’s a pathway in the right direction. The question is how quickly we’re getting there. And just to start with 10 people, 10 customers at once. There will be a lot of places, a lot of restaurants to start with that just can’t open under those conditions.

MINISTER CASH: And that’s why it is a three step framework, so people can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I have to say, Chris, when you look at where we are as a country compared to where so many countries are, we actually are ahead of the pack. In particular, when you look at the decisions that we took were in the best interests of Australians health. You just have to compare the death rate in Australia for example in relation to the United Kingdom, taking into account population, 110 times more, France 100 times more, the United States 50 times more. So the decisions we took were to ensure that Australians health was our number one interest. But as a result of those decisions, today and I was very pleased to see the Prime Minister stand up and address the nation on behalf of the National Cabinet and set out that three step process towards the reopening of the Australian economy.



CHRIS KENNY: There’s no doubt you’ve done a good job. The Federal Government, the states governments have done a good job. The Australian people have done a great job with you and a lot of people have made enormous sacrifices- losing their jobs, losing their business. And the point is, given we have flattened the curve which was our aim, completely smashed it in this country, why can’t we open up business more quickly?

MINISTER CASH: Because the last thing we want to see is a huge spike be controlled. So as the Prime Minister said today, we crawl before we walk. The next four weeks is all about working together with the gradual lifting of the restrictions, to ensure that when there is outbreak- and as the Prime Minister said, there will be outbreaks of COVID-19 as we ease the restrictions. But this is all about ensuring that the employers that are able to reopen have those COVID safe workplaces, and in the event there is an outbreak in a particular workplace, we have in place the processes and the procedures to contain that outbreak as quickly as possible. So over the next four weeks, we see the gradual easing of restrictions, we see businesses coming back to life, and if we work together that will mean the second stage will come on hopefully sooner rather than later.

CHRIS KENNY: The point is, we’ve already done that in building up capacity. We’ve got enormous capacity for intensive care beds, we virtually tripled that from just over 2,000 to almost 7,000. Yet only 20 of those are actually required for coronavirus patients at the moment. We’ve got enormous capacity now in testing, something like 700,000 tests conducted across this country. We’ve got better processes for tracing. We’re handling outbreaks now at Cedar Meats and the like. Surely we can actually take the foot off the pedal a bit here because people are actually going to the wall? Why can’t we at least go through the stages in two weeks rather than four weeks? Is that medical advice or a political decision?

    

MINISTER CASH: And that’s exactly right. No, it is medical advice. All the decisions that we’ve taken as a government working through the National Cabinet, have been always taken on the very best available medical advice. What we now need to do is gather that information over the next four weeks to ensure that you know- was as the prime minister says testing tracing and tracking and responding. To ensure that we get that right so we can then move to the next stage. If we were Chris, to lift the restrictions too quickly and you did see that huge spike what you would ultimately then have to do is literally take that step back again and close businesses down. What the crawling before walking enables us to do is get to stage two, we hope in a much safer manner and then literally then we move towards stage three. So it is gradual. It's probably not as fast as some people would like it to be. And ultimately each state and territory will make their own decisions. 

CHRIS KENNY: Are you worried that some of the states are going to be laggards here. Are you worried that Victoria in particular perhaps New South Wales will hold back progress?

MINISTER CASH: Look I think all of the premiers made statements after the Prime Minister addressed the nation today. And each one has indicated they will make their decisions in terms of the easing of restrictions over the next few days. The ACT has already come out and said they will be easing some restrictions. My home state of Western Australia. We actually moved to the 10 people rule last Monday week. So, we've been there for some time. The Northern Territory, I spoke to my state counterpart just after the Prime Minister addressed the nation. They are obviously in a much different position and we talked about the reopening of pubs in the Northern Territory. Queensland, I am pleased to say they have also now we showed their three state road map to recovery. We are all moving in the right direction. 

The Federal Government has made it very, very clear. We would like to see D-Day being July. Meaning moving through those stages and getting to the reopening of the Australian economy to the very best of our ability by July. And certainly we would hope that all states and territories work with us to achieve what we now know is in the best interest of Australians. $4 billion a week is what it is costing Australians in terms of the current restrictions. As the Prime Minister has said we are now fighting a million people who have had their claims processed by Centrelink. We need those people to return back to work and that is the war we are now fighting. You can only fight that war Chris by reopening the Australian economy safely.

CHRIS KENNY: Absolutely. Of course we understand the need to make sure we don't lose control of the infection of the virus at this stage. A lot of work has gone into suppressing it. But the key point here is you need to rescue those unemployed people and those shut down businesses as soon as possible because there’s literally their livelihoods at stake people's lives, life's work is at stake. Now research released today through the Doherty Institute a scientific document looking at early analysis of the Australian COVID-19 epidemic, makes very clear that we had reduced the effective reproduction rate of this virus, to below one. That is we were in control of the virus in mid-March. That is before the most severe lockdown measures came in place before beaches pubs and restaurants were closed. Surely that information suggests that we have this under control before the most extreme measures and we can accelerate our way out of this.

MINISTER CASH: And that is exactly why we are where we are today ahead of basically the rest of the world in terms of A) our death rate. That is a good thing. B) our recovery right and that should never be underestimated, the number of people who contracted the disease in Australia but have recovered. The number of active cases and the fact that we are now able to as an economy take those formal steps to reopen knowing that the suppression strategy and the tough decisions, Chris, were they tough decisions? Absolutely. Were they decisions that we wanted to make as a government? No, of course not. Were they decisions that we had to make in prioritizing the health of Australians? Yes. But we also put in place as you know the $320 billion response package. But now is the time to start those formal steps towards that reopening. But we need to work together over the next four weeks to ensure that we manage the reopening, we manage a potential spike in cases, we're able to track and trace those cases as quickly as possible, hence the need to download that COVIDsafe app. 

It is now more than ever imperative that Australians get on board and download that COVIDsafe app. Because next week when you're sitting down at a cafe or a restaurant in your particular state if you've got that app working and God forbid someone in that circle that you were near contracted COVID-19. We would be able to let you know in a very quick period of time that is what the next four weeks is all about; crawling before we're walking so we can get to stage two and then by July stage three we're almost back to normal.



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