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Interview with Patricia Karvelas from ABC Afternoon Briefing with an update on COVID-19

Read the transcript of Minister Gillespie's interview with Patricia Karvelas from ABC Afternoon Briefing with an update on COVID-19.

The Hon Dr David Gillespie MP
Former Minister for Regional Health

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PATRICIA KARVELAS:

Minister, welcome.

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

Pleased to be with you again, PK.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:     

The local government areas of Lismore on the Far North Coast and Albury on the New South Wales-Victorian border will go back into lockdown after each recorded new cases of COVID-19. Are you comfortable with regional towns being plunged in and out of lockdown [Audio skip] cases pop up?

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

Well it's, I think, the reasonable thing to do if you- they had a few cases. As we know, with Delta, finding one case, there's usually other circulating.

So that's why they put a seven-day initial lockdown down, so they can get a trace on any of the context and see if it's more widely circulating. We are rapidly catching up with the acceptable vaccination rates in regional New South Wales, and until we get there, at the 70 per cent, at the 80 per cent two dose rates, unfortunately, these targeted short lockdowns will still be a feature of life.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:

A COVID-19 outbreak in Western Australia is considered inevitable by many health experts. But doctors have warned if it happens before enough people are vaccinated, it will be horrendous for regional areas where resources are limited, and staff are hard to attract. Is the Federal Government preparing for this?

MINISTER GILLESPIE:      

Well, we are encouraging a multi-pronged approach in these regional areas, like we have done in Western New South Wales.

Lieutenant General Frewen, in charge of COVID Shield, is well-versed in this. The state has been supplied with a huge quantity of vaccines between the state system, general practices, community pharmacies, which are coming on board, not just with the AstraZeneca that they've got now, but with the Moderna as it rolls in, that will be rolled out through community pharmacies as well.

There's extra Pfizer coming through on already contracted deals. And, I think, if in the 30 areas that the General and his COVID Shield team has identified, focusing in the way we have done in western New South Wales, will get those rates up very quickly, because a lot of these areas with, on paper, low vaccination rates, there's not a large number of people. So, you can correct a 30 per cent rate almost overnight, if you're in a very small local government area.

Some of the small areas in New South Wales, for instance, a place called Merriwa, the Flying Doctor Service turned up and did 721 doses in a day. So, the figures there went up exponentially. Similarly, in these smaller areas, particularly the remote Indigenous communities, we can get very high figures very quickly.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:     

Yeah.

MINISTER GILLESPIE:     

  …the hesitancy and the complacency goes once people see that a Delta outbreak is a real risk.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:

On the 30 regions the task force will prioritise across the country in a push to vaccinate Aboriginal Australians, has there been a spike in vaccinations? Why were they chosen?

MINISTER GILLESPIE:      

Pardon? Could you just say that last one?

PATRICIA KARVELAS:    

Why were they chosen? Like, how did you make the decision about which ones would be chosen?

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

Look, I think they looked at the Australian Immunisation Register and the local government areas and did their analysis with the help of people like the National Indigenous Australians Agency, like the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, and they have targeted the most relevant places on that list.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:

And what role has the Flying Doctor Service in the rollout? You mentioned them, but are you accelerating that role, investing more in it? Obviously, they're playing quite a key function.

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

Look, we invested over $50 million last year, and there were extra funds appropriated this year. The Flying Doctor has been doing an amazing service. They're scheduled at 152 remote and very remote locations.

They've already delivered 26,000 doses across many jurisdictions already, and there's another total of that same amount yet to be visited. But considering the size and remoteness of some of these clinics, they've done an amazing job.

They've been on the east coast, down at Jervis Bay and they've been in the Far West, southwest, in Queensland, Northern Territory, WA. There's no place that the Flying Doctor won't be able to reach.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:

Just on some other issues, should Christian Porter reveal who's behind the blind trust?

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

Look, that's a decision that is being assessed by the Prime Minister. Blind trusts, as you know, appear in lots of people's declarations. I'm not the judge of what he should do. I'll leave that to the Prime Minister.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:

No, you're not in charge, but do you think that the public has a right to know?

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

I'm sure he has complied with whatever that's been required. Everyone-

PATRICIA KARVELAS:

[Talks over] Well, we don't know if he has because the Prime Minister's trying to check.

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

Pardon? Could you just repeat that?

PATRICIA KARVELAS:

Prime Minister's trying to check, right? So, obviously the compliance is a question mark. But beyond compliance and rules, it stinks, doesn't it? And surely, you can see that.

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

For some people that never heard of a blind trust, it may seem like an odd structure, but it is a way of separating a person making their statement of declaration of interest made. It's frequently used.

The fine details of it, I'm not privy to. I'm not- as I said, I'm not the judge of whether he should or whether he shouldn't. All I can say is every minister has to comply with that industry or code of conduct. And the ultimate judge of that is the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister and Cabinet, who are investigating the matter.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:     

You're in the Nationals. How do you think it plays out in your regions?

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

I think anyone who had the details explained to them would realise what I've just said. Everyone must meet the standard.

But the fine details of what has been declared, I haven't even looked. But every minister has to comply with those standards, and the judge of whether they have or haven't is the Prime Minister.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:     

Australia will partner with the US and the UK to build that fleet of nuclear-powered submarines for the Navy, with building work to begin in Adelaide within the next decade. Does this open the door to more nuclear power production on Australian shores?

MINISTER GILLESPIE:

Well, that is a reasonable question. But with these nuclear subs, the technology is- the nuclear unit stays in the machine for the life of the project, and that's why I think the Prime Minister has said it's not necessary to have a nuclear power station here.

But we have huge technology, a long history of operating nuclear facilities. At Lucas Height, three reactors.

We are a world leader in isotope production for medical science used for diagnosis, for therapy, for analysing other metals and compounds, and for a lot of industrial uses like smoke detectors.

We have a huge history of nuclear technology involvement. We're involved in just about every international atomic energy agency committee of relevance. We're part of the non-proliferation agreements internationally. We have a long history in nuclear science and a lot of capable scientists as well.

PATRICIA KARVELAS:

And that was the Regional Health Minister, David Gillespie, who joined me a short time ago.

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