MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Of course these lockdowns are a major drag on the economy, and employment which has been recovering very well after this point. The Federal Employment Minister Stuart Robert joins us now from the Gold Coast.
Minister, good morning.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Michael, how are you?
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Very well, thank you. Now, the unemployment rate as we know fell to 4.9 per cent last month, which was fantastic, and on any other morning would’ve been headline news. I want to ask you, it’s been a great performance so far, but how worried is the Federal Government about these lockdowns stalling this recovery in the labour market?
MINISTER ROBERT:
I think we’re all concerned about the lockdowns, not just the mental health of our citizens and our two great cities but also the impact on lives and livelihoods, Michael. And whilst it’s the best of times here in the Gold Coast, I appreciate it’s a pretty hard time in Sydney and Melbourne.
If we look at the unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent, which is great, but of course that included the first two weeks of lockdown in Victoria, and you saw underemployment increase by 82,000 in that city. So, lockdowns do have an impact. Pleasingly, though, unemployment in Victoria at 4.4 per cent. It is a pretty impressive result down in Victoria.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
What is the fear, though? We already have business owners in Sydney, for instance, saying they have no choice but to put off workers. Are you worried the unemployment rate might spike again, this month going into the rest of the year?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Yes, certainly it will have an impact, Michael. It has to. Again we saw that in Victoria for the first two weeks of lockdown. We saw the underemployment increase. The good thing about the economy and the great thing about Australians is they’re showing to be very resilient. And because structurally the economy is sound, as soon as lockdowns finish, the economy bounces back. Yes, to an impact, no, to it being long term.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Speaking of financial support, tell us about this deal reached last night between the Prime Minister and the Victorian Premier about financial support for Victorian businesses and workers?
MINISTER ROBERT:
I think it is a good outcome, Michael. The National Security Committee of Cabinet met yesterday and that’s when we agreed on the fiscal supports for individuals raising it to $600 for a week for those who have lost work and have been working over 20 hours, and of course $375 for those 8 to 20 hours. We did all of that before Victoria announced their lockdown, so the discussion and the deal last night literally at 10:30 finalised was to say to Victorians, whilst these personal income payments for seven days or more, of course, will cover Victoria for five days. So, once they have actually lost those hours of work, they will be able to go to Services Australia through my.gov.au and will be able to claim for that payment if they have lost those hours of work.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Given the severity of the virus and how fast the Delta variant transfers between people, do you agree that the Victorian Government had no choice, Minister, but to go for this snap, hard five-day lockdown?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, that was the medical advice that Premier Andrews has got and he’s followed it. These are difficult decisions for premiers to make, but we are all in there together and that is what the decision we made last night was to say, sure, we’ve gone for seven days for the payment but, Victoria, we are here to back you in at five days. So, we’re going to back Premier Andrews on this one.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay. What about New South Wales? Criticism in some quarters that Gladys Berejiklian hasn't gone hard enough with her lockdown. What do you think about that?
MINISTER ROBERT:
They have done so well, Michael. Their tracking and tracing has gone so well for over 12 months. So, you’d have to back them in on the decisions they’ve made. They have done everything they possibly can and I think they just got to the point where they had no choice on the lockdown. Again, these are big cities being locked down. This stuff is pretty hard.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
It is pretty hard, but we do know - and worryingly even the Premier is very worried about this - the number of people infectious in New South Wales out of the community was about 35 yesterday. She says she is worried about that and unless that figure gets to zero, there is no end to the lockdowns. So, I just wanted to ask you, pivoting from that, do you- what do you think about- there is this fevered debate about whether we end up having to just live with this virus. Can Australia live with the virus, particularly the Delta variant?
MINISTER ROBERT:
If you think about the UK as an example - so 86 per cent, give or take, with one dose and sort of 64 per cent with two doses - they are still getting over 30,000 cases a day and six deaths. Yes, they have opened their full borders, in terms of travel. They have joined in terms of the travel bubble with all of Europe, so they’ve reached a point where they are saying, well, we have reached almost max vaccination and we are going to live with it. So these are natural steps.
Now, we are not there yet. We’ve still got 33 per cent of our nation vaccinated on the first dose and we are rolling that through. And we are rolling it through very fast. 162,000 vaccinations on Wednesday, but we will get to a point of course, Michael, where Australians, there will be a certain amount that have chosen not to get vaccinated and we’ll just have to slowly open the border and hope and pray and encourage as many Australians to get vaccinated as possible.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Only 12 per cent of Australians have been fully vaccinated; that’s two doses. And given, Minister, all we know now about how globally competitive it is to get the vaccines, it turns out it always has been and is a race, isn't it?
MINISTER ROBERT:
It’s a tough fight, that’s for sure. Now, we have got a great security of pipeline going forward. We had a few challenges with supply in the early days, which unfortunately slowed us down. Not a lot.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
[Interrupts] Should we have bought some more earlier? Should we have bought some more earlier? That’s the big question.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, the Prime Minister made the point we’d still be in the suppression stage now, so little would change, but there is sort of 40 million Novavax coming and the same sort of realm in Pfizer and the same realm in Moderna, so our pipeline is very, very strong. The key thing now is for everyone to get vaccinated. Look, it’s not mandatory, it’s voluntary, but really encourage all Australians to just step up, book online, get vaccinated.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
If you can. Minister, thanks for your time this morning.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Great to talk to you, Michael.