MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE:
Thanks very much for coming to this great event this morning. Canteen, and Camp Quality, Redkite. Three organizations that literally for decades have been providing just amazing support to tens of thousands of families. Wherever you deal with - the difficult diagnosis of cancer, whether that's a cancer diagnosis for one of the kids in the families, or one of the parents, really isn't the important point. The point is that wherever the diagnosis lands it impacts every single member of the family. I'm really glad to announce that the Australian Government today is providing more than $3 million in support to these three organizations which are coming together in a really exciting collaboration to provide a one stop shop - a cancer hub, where children or their siblings or patients themselves, and parents, whether their parents that have been diagnosed with cancer themselves, or parents and a child with cancer, can get all sorts of support. Obviously support to walk through the treatment pathway that they face, but support for all of the other things that are upended by cancer diagnosis for families that are still in treatment, or financial arrangements and the very profound mental health impacts include everyone in the family, whether they're siblings, children, or parents. So, I really want to congratulate all these three organizations. It is often too easy just to stay doing what you've been doing for years, or even decades, particularly when they've been doing it as effectively as they have. It takes a particular bit of courage to reach out and collaborate with other organizations. And all three of those organizations have done that today. And I'm very pleased the Australian government has been able to provide them with some financial support to deliver a product which really will make the lives of these tens of thousands of Australians going through a really difficult time, much easier. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST:
Inaudible - Minister, some covid questions if you can? Today this time, we are seeing free RAT tests ending, we are seeing pandemic payments ending just as we are about to go into a surge COVID cases nationally. Is it the right time to be doing this?
BUTLER:
First, just to clear up a couple of misunderstandings about the access to free RATs. If you - any member of the community, whether you're a pensioner or not a pensioner - anyone who suspects that they have COVID, who has symptoms, or has been exposed to COVID has access to free testing everywhere in Australia. Whether that's free RAT testing, or free PCR testing. The Commonwealth and the States continue to co-fund free tests for anyone who thinks that they have COVID. That does not change today at all. If you are a pensioner, or any other member of the community who wants to visit a resident in aged care facilities, the Commonwealth has provided tens of millions of free RATs for that purpose. A range of other reasons why people might need RATs, again, there's Government support for that. The last Government, Morrison Government and all of the State Governments designed the program - when you wrap up, is frankly, a very difficult state and put together a RAT test with a lot of money. They designed the program for six months that will provide concession cardholders, the stockpile of RAT tests for their personal use - not intended to be used as part of the Government testing program, but for personal use. That was always budgeted and intended to come to a close on 31st of July. Still, there is a couple of weeks for concession cardholders to get their access to those tests for this three month period that they're entitled to. So, they can build up their stockpile for personal use. But I really want to stress because there has been some commentary around this morning that suggests otherwise. I really want to stress, every Australian has access to a free COVID testing still. Whether that's a RAT test or a PCR test, to think you have COVID.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible) - is 21 years old, raising her 13-year-old disabled sister. Casual worker who works (inaudible). If she tests positive for COVID, meanwhile she can't work, she wants to isolate. (Inaudible) And you’ve taken her $750 financial support away. She's now taking out a loan at pay day later so she can feed her sister. Is that fair?
BUTLER:
As I've said before, the end of these disaster payments, these emergency payments was designed in a system by the former Government.
JOURNALIST:
That’s a cop out - you’re the Government.
BUTLER:
If you just let me finish, I’ll come to your question. Whatever point in time, a Government decides to discontinue emergency payments, there will be an impact. There's no question about that, I’ve acknowledged that. But given we've got a trillion dollars in debt, we cannot continue to borrow money to fund emergency payments forever. Now, whatever time that decision was taken to discontinue those payments, there would be an impact. These are hard decisions. These are hard decisions. And we've said before, decisions taken by the former Government for these payments to end on the 30th of June are going to have an impact on the community. But all I can say, again, is that - a trillion dollars in debt -
JOURNALIST:
There's a lot of decisions the former Government made that you haven't either adopted or changed. Because you've been elected and you're the Minister, you decided to scrap the $750 payment that provides financial certainty to casuals - people who don't have sick leave. You, Health Minister, Mark Butler, what do you say to people who are now going to payday lenders to pay rent?
BUTLER:
As I've said before, this was a hard decision and would have been a hard decision at whatever point these emergency payments were discontinued. They were intended and designed to be discontinued by the former Government and State Governments on the 30th of June. And all I've said, and the Prime Minister and other members of the Government has said, is we cannot continue to fund these emergency payments forever. We're a trillion dollars in debt. There are tens of billions of dollars in deficit as far as the eye can see. And at some point in time, we have to recognize there is not the financial capacity to continue emergency payments forever.
JOURNALIST:
Inaudible
BUTLER:
I've commissioned Jane Halton only over the last couple of weeks to conduct an urgent review about our existing procurement arrangements for vaccines and for medicines, for COVID medicines or treatments. I want to make sure that we know what we're doing with our current stockpile. And we're confident that the [inaudible] arrangements we have for the rest of this year and into 2023 are going to remain fit for purpose. And there is no person in Australia who is better placed to conduct that interview than Jane Halton. She is co-chair of COVAX, which manages the global supply of vaccines to developing countries from rich countries like Australia. She’s also co-chair of the group globally, that is really pushing the funds here to innovate the new generations of vaccines. So, I very much look forward to Ms Halton, completing that review in coming weeks, and we'll have much more to say about that then.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible)
BUTLER:
We’ll see that when Ms Halton conducts her review. What I will say is this – that there are many millions of vaccines that we have in warehouses or out of points of supply, whether that's through GP surgeries, or community pharmacies in particular. And there are still millions of Australians who are eligible for a booster dose, whether that's a third dose, or a fourth dose who haven't yet had it. So, I encourage - particularly the more than five million Australians for whom it's been more than six months, since they've had their second dose of COVID vaccine, but haven't yet had a third dose - to go out and get it as soon as possible. That third dose is the critical kicker to boosting your immunity and protecting you from severe disease. So yes, we have millions of doses in our warehouses and more points of supply right now. But we also have millions of people who are overdue, either their third dose, or for people over the age of 50, for their fourth dose.
JOURNALIST:
What would you say to workers who say, well, you're not going to pay any money. Then drop the seven-day isolation period. Either make it legal for people to go into work if they feel better, or financially supplement the wages that they lose when they're in isolation.
BUTLER:
The advice from the chief health officers remains here in Australia, as it does in most parts of the world, that if you have a COVID positive test, you are required to isolate. That remains the case, there is no change in the advice from our Chief Health Officers.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible) …you said that was good advice from the business community saying that people should now consider working from home. Let their staff work from home. Is that really what the country needs right now as we emerge from the last waves of COVID crisis to get people back into their home situations?
BUTLER:
So, what I've said is there is no advice from the Chief Health Officers. We met late last week for any work from home orders to be made. But the Chief Health Officers did provide advice that suggested, said, that given the increase in case numbers we are expecting over the coming weeks that employers should review their existing work arrangements, obviously, in consultation with employees, and if it suits their business to consider some more temporary work from home arrangements. That's a voluntary thing. It's not a mandate, or an order that Governments are considering. And I think that reflects the different phase that we're shifting into in the pandemic. I know employers that are doing that right now. I've spoken to some of them. There are some other employers that might see that as something that suits their business. The point is, I think businesses and members of the community in this phase of the pandemic, really deeply in the third year of the pandemic, need the best possible advice, targeted mandates. Sure, we need to protect, for example, vulnerable members of aged care facilities, but broad advice for them to take the sensible decisions based on what we've learned over the last couple of years. And that's really going to be a matter for business to business.
JOURNALIST:
On aged care - there's some issues again with staffing shortages, some aged care facilities, especially in Queensland, at the moment are saying they may need ADF support. Would you be open to that?
BUTLER:
We'll continue to talk with the aged care sector about what they need to keep some of the most vulnerable members of our community safe. The ADF has provided terrific support over the last several months to hardworking aged care staff and aged care staff, like so many others, including our hospital system have been hit by high numbers of people having to ask like, because they've got COVID. So, we'll continue to talk on a very regular basis for the aged care sector about what is needed from the Commonwealth, to provide them with the best possible protection for those residents. What we've been particularly focused on over the last few weeks is to increase the number of aged care residents who have got that crucial fourth dose which gives them that extra boost of protection against severe disease. And we've seen a very pleasing increase over the last few weeks in those numbers. There's still much more to do.
JOURNALIST:
The Burnett Institute is indicating that winter peak in Victoria will be worse than summer, is that the advice you received and [inaudible]
BUTLER:
There's quite a number of different pieces of modelling around about what this third Omicron wave 2022 will look like. Broadly, though, I think there's agreement that it is going to be a very substantial peak in case numbers. Bigger than the second wave we saw in April and May - may be as big as the January wave. What I think we are going to see is hospitalisation case numbers increase to something approaching what we saw in January, which is around maybe five and a half thousand people across the country in the hospital with COVID. Already right now it's well over 4000. And that number is increased markedly in the last fortnight or three weeks. The big difference, I think you will see between January and this particular wave is we expect the number of people who have to be admitted to intensive care to be substantially lower this time than in January because you're in January wave although infection numbers were being driven by a high infectiousness of the Omicron variant, there was still a lot of the Delta variant there in the community. Which getting more into your lungs, being more severe saw more people initially [inaudible]. There are going to be millions of people infected by COVID in in this coming few weeks period, we have 250 to 300,000 people today, people who are infected on official data. The real numbers probably twice that maybe even more, according to what we understand about this variant. Our focus has to be obviously keeping that number as low as possible, which is why mask wearing in crowded indoor spaces is strongly encouraged by the Chief Health Officers. But our primary focus has to be minimizing the number who gets severely unwell, who end up in hospital particularly end up in the intensive care unit, which is why our focus has been on boosters and that fourth dose be made much more much more widely available, and really broadening the availability and access to these very important highly effective COVID vaccines. Not vaccines, the antiviral medicines as well.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] 300 thousand people is a lot in isolation [Inaudible]
BUTLER:
I've responded to that. This is a hard decision.
JOURNALIST:
Do you understand - these are individual stories. You are elected as a Labor Government, you told us you had a heart and [Inaudible].
BUTLER:
This is a hard decision and the timing which was determined by the former Government and the State governments that have co-partnered this thing. And as I've said before, given where the budget is, at some point you need to take a decision, there's not the financial capacity to continue emergency payments forever. And whenever that decision takes effect, unfortunately there will be an impact on the community.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible)
BUTLER:
The first thing to say about that question is, to be very clear, these decisions were taken by the former Government. And as we've said the budget is in a position where payments are set up in an emergency period simply have continued forever. At some point, they need to be withdrawn. We’re a trillion dollars in debt, we have eye watering deficits as far as the eye can see, and hard decisions at some point need to be made to withdraw emergency payments. Now, that doesn't mean we still don't have a laser like focus on targeted ways in which we can minimize severe illness and hospitalization particularly. Which is why, just over the last week, we've substantially broadened eligibility for the full vaccine dose. Substantially broadened eligibility and access to antiviral treatments, which will have a very serious effect, serious impact on minimizing severe illness and hospitalizations. That has to be the focus of this wave. Minimising severe illness, minimising the impact on our hospital system.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible) …variant specific vaccines.
BUTLER:
So, as people probably know, Moderna and Pfizer, in particular, have been developing vaccines that target the Omicron variant, in particular. Those who have begun a regulatory process in the United States. And, and here, at least in relation to the Moderna variant vaccine, has started to be considered by our TGA. I've met with Moderna and Pfizer a couple of weeks ago, and I've directed my department to enter full negotiations with both of those companies with whom we have procurement arrangements already, to make sure that Australia has the earliest possible access to those variant vaccines once they are approved. It’s important to say they haven't been approved yet, anywhere on the planet. They are likely to have approval over coming weeks or the next couple of months. The other thing we've done, of course, is to enter negotiations with both of those companies to make sure that Australia has access to the pediatric vaccines that are also in process of being considered by the TGA for children under the age of five as well.
So those negotiations are underway. I've met directly with the companies to press the importance of Australia having priority access to.
JOURNALIST:
Have you ever lived week to week?
BUTLER:
Not for a long time. I've worked with people who live week to week, I represent a community that has a lot of people in it who live week to week, with whom I talk very frequently. But no, I haven't lived week to week for a very long time. That's the honest thing.
JOURNALIST:
It's pretty hard when the Government says you can't work for a week, because you're mandated, because you’re sick - that would make it difficult (Inaudible)
BUTLER:
Of course, it does. And that has for a long time when people are sick and don't have access to sick leave arrangements. Obviously, there's a particular case with COVID giving stay at home orders. But this is an issue that has been a challenge for casual workers for a long period of time where they don't have access to paid sick leave. But whether it's COVID or some other illness, unable to attend work. And that's why as a Labor Government, we are so focused on improving security of employment, putting that at the centre of our workplace relationships, and lifting the number of people who have access to paid leave entitlements. I think it was a shock to many Australians to find out as we moved to the pandemic, just how many Australians didn't have access to paid annual leave and sick leave entitlements. And that's something that the Labor Government obviously is committed to fixing, not just in relation to COVID but in relation to all of the other illnesses that casual workers confront.
JOURNALIST:
Are you considering lessening the seven day isolation period?
BUTLER:
That obviously, it will be a matter for the Chief Health Officers to consider. I’ve gave that advice to Government about - I'm not aware that there's any consideration of that here in Australia.
JOURNALIST:
Given what you said, though, about the lesser severity of this particular variant of COVID. Would it be worth considering and asking that question to the CHOS, take it down to 7 to 5 days because you can recover so much from this variant?
BUTLER:
I'm confident the Chief Health Officers are constantly considering whether or not there needs to be a change to central measures like this. I've got no sense that they're about to provide advice about that. You know, this remains a highly infectious variant. All of the Omicron sub-variants have been, and the advice continues to be that that period of seven days is important to cover the most infectious period of a person's illness.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible) … the government intends to start treating COVID as an endemic disease. Is that true?
BUTLER:
I think it just reflects the reality. I mean, an illness that over the course of this year was literally infecting millions and millions of Australians is now an endemic illness here in Australia. It is right through the country. There is no - there are no COVID free states and COVID impacted states the whole of Australia is impacted by an illness that is infecting tens and tens of thousands of Australians every day - it is endemic.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible) …the RATs aren't actually being checked - Do know anything about that? And do biosecurity measures need to be tightened?
BUTLER:
I think this this is a matter of being managed by the New South Wales Health Department. And I'm confident that they have this in hand. Obviously, people will want to be confident but about what their COVID status is, and if they are COVID positive, they know what they need to do in terms of isolation. But I'm confident the New South Wales Health Department has this in hand or, the New South Wales Government more broadly.
JOURNALIST:
Victorian Health Minister has rejected the advice of their Chief Health Office in terms of mandating masks. Is this something that you are comfortable with? (Inaudible)
BUTLER:
Right from this pandemic, whether we’ve been in opposition or in Government, we haven't second guessed the decisions of State Governments and they really have been on the frontline. More than the Commonwealth, frankly, in managing this pandemic from having to take very hard decisions to protect their community, decisions which are often very difficult to implement in their community. And no one's felt that more than the people of Victoria over the last two and a half years. The advice that was released by the Victorian Minister yesterday, the Victorian Health Minister, is really the strongest advice frankly, we have anywhere in the country right now in terms of mask wearing or the encouragement of employers to consider work from home arrangement. So, I'm not going to criticize in any way the Victorian Government, they've put out a very strong advice over the last 24 hours to reflect the seriousness that they apprehend about this third Omicron wave for ‘22. Thanks everyone.