Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
23-07-2020
Bureau Report
CANBERRA: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has admitted the government was preparing for “many thousands” of Australian coronavirus deaths.
In a wide-ranging interview with A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw, Morrison urged Australians to “look forward” despite the ongoing outbreaks in NSW and Victoria.
And he admitted that the current situation Australia is caught in had not been anticipated.
“A year ago, we couldn’t have contemplated any of this,” he said.
“That has been the swift change and terrible impact that has occurred.”
And despite Victoria’s renewed lockdown and rising COVID-19 tally, he said there was reason to be positive.
“We are still doing very well, in seven states and territories. Victoria is obviously a different situation and we feel for everybody in Victoria,” he said.
“We’ve done it once. Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we can do it again,” but, he said, “Australia doesn’t win if Victoria doesn’t win”.
Increased knowledge of the virus was also playing a role.
Months ago, the whole of Australia was caught in the same situation as Victoria is now, but without any previous experience of the disease.
“Back in March, April, we were thinking about tens of thousands of people, within a month, contracting the virus,” Morrison said.
“And many thousands of Australians dying, that is what we were planning for.”
Asked by Grimshaw whether he would consider extending Job-Keeper beyond its current March deadline, Morrison said he hoped the country could get to the point where those supports were unnecessary.
“You don’t fix the health situation by sacrificing the economy,” he said.
“What you do is build up your health response.”
Morrison said it was probably into April when the dire economic future became obvious.
Today, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced the worst Australian debt levels since World War II but the situation has changed rapidly.
“If I go back to the start of this year, in February, we were getting advice from government’s Reserve Bank that the June quarter would be fine,” he said.
Morrison said job creation was at the centre of the government’s economic recovery plan, pointing to investment in everything from apprenticeships to zoos.
And despite a political chill between the two nations, he denied Australia’s trade relationship with China was suffering.
“The facts on the ground are that they’re buying more than they ever have,” he said.
Morrison said the earlier communication with China over COVID-19 had dried up.
“They’re not connecting with us over those things at the moment,” he said.
“They’re not seeking any support from us.”
He said Australia and China had cooperated in February regarding the extraction of citizens from the virus-hit Wuhan province – a contact Australia had “appreciated” but asked if he was worried over the state of the Australia-China relationship now, the PM was firm.
“It would worry me if Australia had acted in any way that was not consistent with who we are,” he said.
“It would worry me if we didn’t act in accordance with our interest. It would worry me if we responded to threats or coercion.”
Coronaviruses are notoriously difficult to create vaccines for, with an attempt to find one for SARS still drawing a blank.
Despite optimistic recent reports over research in Oxford in the UK, there are fears a COVID-19 vaccine could prove similarly elusive.
If that’s so, Morrison said, Australians would have to keep on “looking forward”.
“You keep washing your hands, you keep your 1.5m distance, you keep your businesses open,” he said.
“You run your country, you run your society, in a COVID-safe way.
“When your head is to the floor, you can’t see the opportunities ahead.
“I need Australians looking ahead.
“We will crack this.”
Morrison says travel beyond Australia’s borders is not foreseeable without a coronavirus vaccine.
“This would be very challenging. I would hope before the end of the year that Australia and New Zealand could agree to a travel zone,” Morrison said.
When pressed on whether a trans-Tasman travel bubble meant Australians needed to prepare for a life of never going on holidays overseas again, Morrison hoped many would see the opportunities amid the crisis.
“Australian’s can focus on that, if there is no vaccine,” he said.
“I need Australians looking up; forward… they will be encouraging each other. They will be opening their businesses. They will be doing whatever they can to keep people in jobs.
“Whether there will be a vaccine, and I hope there will be, then we will deal with whatever circumstance confronts us because that’s what Australians do.”
