PROFESSOR DOUG HILTON, DIRECTOR OF WEHI: Welcome, everybody. Welcome Prime Minister, Minister, Assistant Minister, it's wonderful to have you. And I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land here in Parkville, who are the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation and pay my respects to their elders, past and present. And I also want to acknowledge all of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers here in WEHI, and across the precinct in Parkville, not just for their amazing contribution to our research effort, but also for helping us create such a vibrant community. And that's a really important part of being creative and tackling different problems. So, on behalf of the 1,300 staff and students here at the Institute, and 20,000 staff and students who work in medical research institutes across Australia, from Hobart to Darwin and Perth to Brisbane, it's an absolute privilege to welcome the Prime Minister, the Minister for Health, and the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care. I think that's a trifecta of leaders who have a demonstrated passion for what medical research can achieve for the lives of Australians. The funding that allows medical research to flourish in Australia comes from our taxpayers, our Australian taxpayers, and via incredible acts of philanthropy both large and small. And they can be people who leave gifts in their wills, all the way through to millions of Australians that make small donations, people like the people who buy beanies for Carrie Bickmore so she can pursue her mission against brain cancer.
And I think what's inspiring about being Director of a place like this, in addition to the wonderfully passionate and creative people that you've met, is that they have a real responsibility to deliver on the trust that is given to them by the taxpayers and our donors. And that responsibility, I think, plays out in three really important ways. The first is that they're incredibly resilient. Making discoveries is hard. You need to be creative. And almost by definition, you need to do something that's never been done before. And there are times, there are days and weeks and months, and I can attest to this firsthand, where your experiments don't work. And you need to keep coming back into the lab and banging your head against that wall. So, that first commitment that I find so inspiring, that first way we deliver on that responsibility, is to have the stamina and drive and persistence to chip away at what are seemingly intractable problems. The second way this responsibility plays out, and it may seem a little bit contradictory, is that our researchers also have an acute sense of urgency. They have an urgency to use their research skills to provide hope to patients and families who around Australia today will receive the news that they dread from a doctor. And that may be a diagnosis of brain cancer or leukaemia or pancreatic cancer, it may be a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease or dementia, or a degenerative illness in a child just to name a few. Researchers also have that acute sense of urgency when the community receives the news that it never wants to hear. And that is the sort of news we received at the start of 2020 that there is a new pandemic. And I'm so proud of the researchers here at WEHI who, with those in the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth and SAHMRI in Adelaide, and I know Minister Butler has a real passion for the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, the Burnett and Doherty Institutes here in Melbourne provided the modelling that helped the nation navigate COVID. I'm so proud of our teams that, together with the water industry and the Department of Health here in Victoria and Monash University, developed the technology to monitor viruses in wastewater. They sound like simple things. But to take that idea of being able to measure DNA in sewerage and translate that into something useful takes the creativity and collaborative spirit of researchers working together. And I'm so very proud of our researchers who, with colleagues at MIPS and CSIRO and the Burnett Institute and the Kirby Institute, with industry partners like CSIRO and Affinity Bio, are developing the antiviral medicines that help protect our community. The third way we deliver on our responsibility, and I'm going to wrap up, and it should be obvious by now, is through a deep commitment to collaboration. At WEHI, this manifests with our biologists and biochemists and mathematicians and automation experts, all bringing their skills to work together. But it involves collaborating with clinicians, doctors, in the hospitals around the precinct places like Peter McCallum and Royal Melbourne and the Women's. What's really inspiring is that extends to collaborations across the country and globally. Because collaboration really is the key to making a material difference in people's lives. So, Prime Minister, Minister and Assistant Minister, thank you so much for your support. You can see what it means to our community. Having leaders that are interested and passionate about medical research enables them to come in and get that experiment working. That moral support is really important to us. I can promise you that every medical researcher in Australia, day in day out, will continue to draw on their resilience, their sense of urgency, and their deep collaborative spirit to really make a difference in people's lives. Thank you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much to Professor Hilton. And I'm very pleased to be here with Health Minister, Mark Butler, and the Assistant Minister, Ged Kearney, to see firsthand the work being done here at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. This magnificent institution which, for more than a century, has been delivering world class research and making an enormous difference to people's lives. If there is anything that has come out of this dreadful pandemic, that at least is a bit of a positive, it's that there is now such a broad recognition across Australian society that science isn't something that's abstract, that produces books and produces papers, it's something that makes a difference to people's lives. It literally, as a result of collaborative research, including research done right here in Australia, including at this institute. What we've seen is a global pandemic which began, of course, at the end of 2019, that really took off early in 2020. And here we are in 2022 with people getting vaccinated around the world, with antivirals being available to alleviate the conditions if people do contract COVID. And making a real difference, literally saving lives, but also saving economies as well. Because we know that early on in the outbreak, there was a bit of a debate about whether it was health or the economy. And the truth is, unless you get the health outcomes right, unless you get the science outcomes right, the economic impact would have always been more severe. The lesson of the pandemic very early on was that you needed to improve health outcomes or else you would not have a choice but to see economic costs imposed as a direct result of the pandemic. Livelihoods lost as well as, of course, lives lost.
The work that's being done here is incredibly important. Antiviral medicines like the ones being made here at WEHI can alleviate the symptoms when people have the virus. And as a direct result of the decisions that were made and announced over the past week to make antivirals more available, to allow for telehealth consultations to go for longer so that people can get those antivirals prescribed, some 30,000 additional people have had access to antivirals, bringing that number up to 116,000. Just as people are out there getting their booster shots in record numbers. More than 500,000 in the last week have had their fourth shot. That's a good thing.
There are four keys to making a difference at the moment with the spike that we're going through. The first is people getting their booster shots. If they're eligible, go out and get your shot. There's plenty of vaccines available. I got my fourth shot last week. And it was a good thing to feel that you're protecting not just yourself but your family, your community and, indeed, everyone who you come into contact with. And at the end of the day, the entire country. The second is the increased use of antivirals. There are plenty of them available as well. Make sure, if you're eligible, that you speak to your doctor about accessing those antivirals that can alleviate the impact of COVID. The third is mask wearing, which is encouraged across the country and in a similar way, if people can wear masks, if they're indoors and they can't socially distance, then that is something that is highly encouraged. And the fourth is, if you are sick, stay home. That is why we have re-introduced the paid pandemic leave for people who would not have an income if that wasn't the case.
So, there's four measures. Get your booster. Get access to antivirals if you're eligible. Wear a mask if it's appropriate. And stay at home if you are sick. These are all measures that together we can continue to work to alleviate the impact of this pandemic. Australians have been magnificent during this crisis. They've made sacrifices on behalf of not just themselves and their families, but their communities and their country.
And I do want to finish off this morning by just giving a shout out to these wonderful young women and men who are here as well. Scientists often don't get the recognition that they deserve. I think the first person, the chief scientist, told me to give a vision statement at the National Press Club just on science. Science is one of the keys to Australia's future. We need to compete in the fastest growing region in the world where we are in human history on the basis of how smart we are. And part of that is making sure that we value science, we value research. And that's why I'm here, not just to give moral support, but also to continue to give the support that's needed from the Government to institutes like this that play such an important role in improving the lives of not just Australians today, but Australians and indeed, global sentence well into the future. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Experts have said that we need to double our efforts to tackle COVID, especially since we're expecting a spike next month. It's interesting, with the mandated masks that you said that the health advice which is there. What is the rationale for that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the rationale is that we listen to the advice from the Chief Health Officers. And what the Chief Health Officers who met last week said was that they wanted to encourage mask wearing where it was appropriate. And we know that there are some mandates in place. The truth is that if you have mandates, you've got to enforce them. And the mandates, like when I spoke to the New South Wales Premier last week, he indicated that whilst there are mandates on public transport in New South Wales, not everyone is wearing a mask. So, we do want to encourage that behaviour. People have been incredibly responsible during this pandemic. People have done it tough. People have looked after each other. And I'm confident that they'll continue to do so. We'll continue to take advice from the experts who are the Chief Health Officers.
JOURNALIST: With Professor Kelly's report saying that employers should review OH&S and business to continue on the plans. Can you expand on what that means for employers?
PRIME MINISTER: I didn't hear his comments, so perhaps you should have asked him at the time. If you want to ask in general terms. I can't comment on what Professor Kelly thought.
JOURNALIST: Should employees be telling people to work from home wherever that's possible?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, for some businesses, what we've seen is that businesses have adjusted. And I think one of the consequences of the pandemic is that some work practices will change permanently. And that for some businesses, for example some of the banks I know, they are having people work from home for a period of days each week, but then they have the contacts in the office environment so they can facilitate collaboration on one or two or three days depending upon the nature of the business. Businesses will continue to make those decisions. They need to make them on the basis of safety, but also for some people we need to recognise that they can't work from home. In my job, I have to get out and about. I was in Canberra yesterday, I'm in Melbourne today. I'll be in Sydney tomorrow afternoon. We need to get out and about. For some people it's just not possible to work from home. But for many businesses, it works for both the business and the employee to have more people working from home. Of course, we need to recognise there's a consequence for as well. If you're a business that relies upon people coming into the CBD to shop, in retail or hospitality, then your business can be hurt by that as well. So, it's a matter of getting the balance right. I'm confident that with a bit of common sense applied we can do that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did Professor Kelly, Chief Health Officer, actually recommend mandates to you?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Will you be expecting your colleagues to wear masks in Parliament next week?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm expecting colleagues to follow the advice which is out there, which is if you can't socially distance, if you're around the corridors of Parliament House, then you should follow the advice which is to wear a mask.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the states anti-corruption watchdog has a report on Victorian Labor today saying it cannot comment on whether former MP Anthony Byrne breached standards. Given the admissions about branch stacking, should Mr Byrne be investigated by your planned Federal ICAC?
PRIME MINISTER: One of the things that that I haven't done, and a big distinction between our model and the previous model, is I don't intend to tell an anti-corruption commission what they can look at. That itself was corrupt, in my view, and I don't intend to engage in it.
JOURNALIST: On that IBAC investigation, it said that Victorian Labor has been accused of unethical and inappropriate behaviour, putting unqualified people into publicly funded roles. Does the Victorian Labor Party need to clean up its act?
PRIME MINISTER: We did. We intervened into the Victorian branch as a result of actions by the Premier of Victoria and myself. Once the 60 Minutes programme went to air, within 48 hours people had had their membership suspended and then subsequently they were expelled. We had an intervention and a suspension of activities in Victoria. We had preselections overtaken by the national executive of the party in both federal and state. We removed thousands of members from the electoral rolls of the Labor Party, from their membership. And Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin – two people who are beyond any suggestion of anything other than integrity – were in charge of the branch and did a magnificent job. That's what leadership looks like. We undertook that leadership. And as a result what we have is a different set of rules and structures, different personnel in place, as a result of the need to ensure that people could have confidence in the Victorian Labor Party going forward. I had that confidence, and I note that the Australian people, in particular people in Victoria, expressed that confidence by electing additional Labor members to the Federal Parliament. Indeed, three new Labor members in the House of Representatives, as a result, three additional members in the House of Representatives as part of my Labor team.
JOURNALIST: Are you disappointed in the toxic culture within the State Labor Party? Do you think Victoria’s standards need to be brought in line with the rest of the country?
PRIME MINISTER: I intervened two years ago. I didn't intervene because there was no need to intervene. I intervened because we needed to take action. And we did.
JOURNALIST: This intervention is due to end at the end of next year. With the findings today, are you committed to it ending then or do you think it should be expanded?
PRIME MINISTER: I think it's reasonable that the reforms that have been put in place, the structural changes that have been there in Victoria in accordance with the recommendations of Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin. What the Premier and I did was to put two senior people, a former deputy leader of the Federal Labor Party in Jenny Macklin, former senior Minister, a former national Vice President of the party and the former Premier of Victoria in charge of this process. And we committed at that time to adopting all of their recommendations and we have.
JOURNALIST: So you don’t think that it will extend beyond next year, the federal intervention?
PRIME MINISTER: I just answered the question. It was a decision of the former Premier Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin. We followed their recommendations. The recommendation wasn't that we suspend the normal operations of the party indefinitely. The recommendations were that we take action. We've done that. No one has received an advantage in any of the activity that was inappropriate because we suspended the pre-selections and did them through the ALP National Executive. Now, that was a difficult process, but it was the right thing to do and it's produced a very good outcome. Thanks.
JOURNALIST: Will Victoria implement all of the recommendations in the report?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven’t seen the report. I’m here.
JOURNALIST: Minister, do you have any clarifications for employees who can do their jobs from home, but their employers are still saying ‘no, it's my preference that you come to work’. They're concerned about the COVID spike at the moment and they're in that situation, what should an employee do?
MARK BUTLER, HEALTH MINISTER: Professor Kelly's statement yesterday reflected the statement that was released by the AHPPC, which is the committee that brings together all of the jurisdiction’s Chief Health Officers. They met last week. They issued a statement on Friday which, as the Prime Minister indicated, provided pretty clear advice about the strong encouragement to wear masks indoors if you're in crowded spaces and not able to socially distance. And the statement also encouraged employers to consider whether or not there were some working from home arrangements that could be put in place just over the course of this several weeks as we experienced this third Omicron wave. Our view, I think you see this reflected in Professor Kelly's statement, is that that's really a case by case basis. Employers should be engaging with their employees. In good practice, this should not be a decision employers take unilaterally, they should be engaging with their employees, that is the best approach to workplace health and safety, and together coming to a view of about the extent to which working from home arrangements, on a very temporary basis, could be put in place. So Professor Kelly’s statement yesterday reflected the consensus view of all Chief Health Officers across Australia. Thanks very much.