E&OE…
Topics; flu vaccines; new medicines for lung conditions; by-elections; Labor’s border protection failures; income tax relief
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Minister, good morning, welcome.
GREG HUNT:
Good morning, Barrie.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
So what are you doing, what do you need to do now, to deal with this shortage?
GREG HUNT:
So, we’ve secured an extra 800,000 vaccines only in the last few days. We’re already at record levels and I think that’s very important. What we’ve seen here is the states make their orders.
These orders were up significantly on previous years, but in fact the public demand has been even greater than the orders that the states made. And importantly last year 8.3 million Australians had vaccinations. This year it’s already at almost 10 million Australians.
And with the extra 800,000 the advice of the Chief Medical Officer is that we’re expecting to meet all of the demand under the National Immunisation Program. So more vaccines, stronger vaccines and a flu season which is not expected to be at last season’s level in any event.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Why is the demand so high and why could you not foresee that?
GREG HUNT:
Well, the demand is predicted by the states. So they put in estimates. I know in Victoria, for example, the Victorian Government asked for 1.2 million vaccinations.
They’ve now received 1.3 million, so more than they asked for or predicted. And then significantly we were expecting and working towards a very large increase on last year.
What we see now is we’re likely to have a 26.5 per cent increase. That’s only a good thing. More Australians being vaccinated, more Australians of older age who are seeking the vaccination and it’s stronger, new vaccines.
More people being vaccinated and the best advice from the Chief Medical Officer is that it’s, at this stage, not predicted to be as severe a season as last year. So we’re now leading the world in our vaccinations.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
But won’t we now be well into the flu season before the 800,000 arrive?
GREG HUNT:
No, again, what we’re seeing is higher rates of inoculation, earlier. That’s a direct response to the fact that we’ve been encouraging people to be vaccinated.
The Acting Chief Medical Officer Tony Hobbs, who spoke only yesterday said that it’s early in the season. The season is in every year most likely to occur in the July/August period. So the timing is actually quite good for the country.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
And do you need to ration them in the meantime?
GREG HUNT:
So, it’s up to individual GPs and what the medical profession is doing is the right thing and that’s ensuring that if in any one practice they’re working on the management flow of their vaccines, they’re focusing on the seniors and people who are vulnerable.
But record numbers of people vaccinated, stronger vaccines and a flu season which is not, at this stage, anticipated as being as severe as last season. So by world standards it’s been an extraordinary breakthrough this year.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Now, you’re making some announcements later on today around relief, at least monetary relief for patients with lung conditions.
GREG HUNT:
That’s right. So, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is in many ways like breathing through a straw for people who have the most severe versions.
There’s a medicine which is being brought onto the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Trilogy, that will help 600,000 Australians access this medicine for $6.40 or $39.50 a script.
And you can only do that if you’ve got a really strong and effective economy. But above all else it’s the pledge that if medical experts recommend it, we’ll list these new medicines.
And 600,000 Australians will have access to a medicine which otherwise they might not, that will literally make a profound difference to their quality of life.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Per script that’s close to $40 now and it was, what, $120 a script previously?
GREG HUNT:
Correct. But for most of them in fact it will be $6.40 because this predominantly affects the older population and the vast bulk of people who are likely to access this medicine will be on the $6.40 concessional script.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Do you think it’s a good idea for Barnaby Joyce to take money to do an interview?
GREG HUNT:
As you said, I’m here free of charge, other than the coffee that I’d better declare for the record, very nice coffee.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
You are, but what about Barnaby Joyce?
GREG HUNT:
It’s a matter for him. I don’t think I should be commenting on their circumstances. Our job…
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Is it a matter for him, though, or is it a matter for the Coalition?
GREG HUNT:
It’s a matter for him. And that’s an issue for himself and his partner Vikki. I don’t propose to comment on that.
For us, the reason I’m here, is to focus on new medicines, and the ability to deliver mental health outcomes and all of the things that come if you get your economic settings right.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Sure, but you must have a view on the principle, though. The principle of a politician accepting money for an interview.
GREG HUNT:
Well, as I say, you and I are here for the love of it. And I’ll let the individual concerned comment on his own circumstances.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
All right, the date for the by-elections has been set at July the 28th – and that’s the day the Labor Party’s set aside for its National Conference – certainly, according to the speaker anyway, it’s the optimal date. It’s optimal for the Government, who else is it optimal for?
GREG HUNT:
Well, this is the advice of the AEC, as I understand it, and it’s, I think…
BARRIE CASSIDY:
The Prime Minister has input into this.
GREG HUNT:
Exactly the same period as the Labor Party set when they were in government for the Gippsland by-election. I think exactly the same to the number of days.
It’s almost identical to the amount that was set when Kevin Rudd retired, for the seat of Griffith. You’re right, though, it’s seven months late. We could have done this in December.
Bill Shorten deliberately, deliberately, deliberately delayed the by-elections, he hoped he could run the gamut of the Constitution.
He didn’t do the right thing by the Australian people, he played hooky with the Constitution. Remember, he promised, he gave a rolled gold promise that their vetting procedures were absolutely solid. They weren’t.
He misled the Australian people, and in the end it means you can’t trust him. And the reason we’re having these by-elections now is because he played hooky with the Constitution.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
He started, though, talking about precedents. The most recent was Bennelong. Now, that was held in December, during school holidays by the way, and at the time Malcolm Turnbull said he wanted the election to be held as quickly as possible.
He said we don’t want it to be delayed any longer than is absolutely necessary. If he applied that principle this time the by-election would be June the 30th not July 28th.
GREG HUNT:
They’ve brought all the circumstances together. The AEC is robustly independent, I know, they’re redistributing my seat as we speak. I would never want to lose an area like Philip Island and…
BARRIE CASSIDY:
You wouldn’t want to criticise them right at the moment, would you?
GREG HUNT:
No, and I believe strongly in their independence. But that’s the way it operates, and as I say when the ALP was in government they had exactly this timeframe, I believe, to the day, for the Gippsland by-election.
But all up the Australian people have a right to be grumpy with Mr Shorten who, frankly, wasn’t honest and couldn’t be trusted, and we know that because he didn’t do the right thing when he had a chance. And this should all have been resolved in December.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
The Prime Minister can influence, though, the Electoral Commission, and the Speaker, obviously, he gets some input into this.
This could end up being too clever by half if the Labor Party now put off their National Conference until after the next Federal Election, and they’re entitled to do that, they’ve got an excuse to do that now, just at a time when they had some tricky issues to deal with.
GREG HUNT:
You’re absolutely right about the tricky issues. Doesn’t matter when, where or how, they are divided on border protection.
You’ve got a new MP, Ged Kearney, who wants to rip apart the national border protection regime and that means more drownings at sea, more people arriving by boat and…
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Well, hang on, just before you go on, you said: rip apart the policy. What she says is she doesn’t like indefinite detention. Do you like indefinite detention?
GREG HUNT:
We have a position which is crystal clear and that is…
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Indefinite detention?
GREG HUNT:
…we have a position which is crystal clear and that is: we will not allow people who come to Australia via people smugglers to settle in Australia. Crystal clear.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Sure.
GREG HUNT:
And the ALP, with Anthony Albanese on the one hand leading a push internally to weaken their border protection will open the floodgates, and what will be the consequence? People will die at sea.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
But what she is critical of is this concept of indefinite detention. What is so wrong with people expressing concern about indefinite detention?
You can understand the argument behind having offshore processing, the Labor Party started that. What is wrong with saying indefinite detention is just too cruel?
GREG HUNT:
There’s something much deeper here and that is: the ALP has a large section, virtually half of the party, that wants to rip apart their current border protection, alleged support for the Government’s regime, which…
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Who is saying that? Who’s saying they want to rip it apart?
GREG HUNT:
When you look at what Ged Kearney is focusing on…
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Indefinite detention.
GREG HUNT:
…when you look at what Anthony Albanese is focusing on, when you look at what the motions are that are coming before the ALP conference whenever they hold it…
BARRIE CASSIDY:
What has Anthony Albanese said around this issue that rips the policy apart?
GREG HUNT:
They are not committed, they are not committed to maintaining the current border protection regime and…
BARRIE CASSIDY:
But I haven’t seen anything that Anthony Albanese has said that supports that.
GREG HUNT:
I think you will find that there is a schism at the heart of the ALP. You’ve got Bill Shorten, who pays lip service, but when they were in Government they had 1200 lives lost at sea.
I mean, that was a catastrophic human failure. Catastrophic. And we stopped those drownings, we’ve had people taken out of detention.
They put people into detention and we have had them taken out. That is a shameful record that they have. And they do it allegedly for humanitarian reasons, but with a humanitarian outcome which is shocking and shameful and tragic.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
I just want to ask you, finally, on the company tax cuts. There are reports that some Nationals now would be satisfied with a situation where you set a cap on the company tax cuts to companies with turnovers of $500 million.
Set the cap, move on, maybe deal with the bigger companies later. Is that starting to gain some currency?
GREG HUNT:
No, we’re very committed to the plan for reducing the cost of doing business and increasing the competitiveness of Australian businesses. If you’re not competitive in a global environment where company tax is, in many cases, coming down, then that affects Australian jobs.
So, we’ve been able to help create a million jobs, this is about helping us create the next million jobs. And it’s linked to the personal income tax cuts, which are about cost of living.
So, cost of living, job creation, they’re the fundamentals of our economic plan. And then that allows us to do things like guarantee the new medicines that are coming on board today.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
So you’re sticking with it all the way through? You’re not being spooked as Pauline Hanson seemed to be?
GREG HUNT:
No. It’s always a challenge to negotiate with the Senate if the Labor Party of the day is committed to higher taxes, higher personal income taxes than we would have and higher company taxes, which is effectively a jobs tax, then we have to work with the crossbench.
I think we’ve been able to achieve over $40 billion of savings through the Senate, we’ve been able to achieve a first round of small business tax cuts and many, many different things. I remember when we worked to abolish the carbon tax there were ups and downs with the crossbench, but we got there.
So, I would always put my money on Malcolm Turnbull, Scott and Mathias, in their negotiations with the Senate.
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Thanks for your time this morning.
GREG HUNT:
Thanks a lot.