31 August 2020
Subjects: Victoria lockdown; aged care sector.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
Alan Tudge is the Minister for Population and Urban Infrastructure. He is also the MP for Aston in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and right now, he is the Acting Immigration Minister. Alan Tudge thanks for joining us.
ALAN TUDGE:
G’day Raf.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
We have had some indications from the Premier today about a plan. Have you seen enough?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well the proof will be in the pudding this Sunday, when the Premier has indicated that he will release a detailed plan as to how we get ourselves out of this situation, and certainly that’s what the Treasurer has been calling for the last couple of days and I one hundred per cent support the Treasurer in that call. I think that the public have endured an enormous amount, as you know, Raf, and as all Melbourne listeners and Victorian listeners know, and there’s immense frustration, there’s immense devastation economically; 33 per cent increase in self-harm. So we need that element of hope and I hope that this Sunday the Premier will lay out a coherent, transparent plan so that people can see it and he’ll let the public in on the thinking so that we can properly plan and have hope that we maybe will get out of this sooner rather than later.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
Is it also providing hope if you call it the biggest policy failure by a State Government in living memory?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, I mean it is true I think, just today, there is new figures out, Raf, that 17 per cent of people who say they have a job but have no hours of work in Victoria. 17 per cent. That is 870,000 people with no hours in Victoria. The figure for the rest of Australia is only 4.6 per cent, versus 17 per cent. We know that consumer consumption has dropped 30 per cent in Victoria and only 3 per cent in the rest of the country.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
So that means you agree that it is the biggest policy failure by a State Government?
ALAN TUDGE:
I cannot think of a more devastating time economically and socially for Victoria as we are enduring right now and the consequences will be very long felt unfortunately and we know how we got to this position. I mean Victoria is the only state that is in this position and at some stage; they will have to be the proper accountability for it all. I mean, obviously, at the moment, Raf, from the Federal Government’s perspective, we are doing absolutely everything we possibly can to support the recovery efforts with the payments, with additional mental health support, with additional training dollars, et cetera, providing Australian Defence Force assistance, any other assistance which the State Governments would like us to provide. Thankfully, the numbers are coming down and I just hope that on Sunday that plan will be articulated and we can have some hope that we will be getting out of this.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
358 people have died in a nursing home in this state, this month, just in August. Those homes are regulated and funded by your government. No one has died in the Victorian Government’s homes. Is that a policy failure by the Federal Government?
ALAN TUDGE:
I mean it is tragic that there have been deaths in the aged care facilities. In many countries in the world, when you have widespread community transmission, it ends up getting into the aged care facilities. In the UK, for example, more than half of all of the aged care facilities have had the coronavirus go into them; whereas in Australia only about 3 per cent at the aged care facilities.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
So is this a policy failure or not?
ALAN TUDGE:
I do not think so because you have to look in terms of where actually have been the cases. The cases have emerged almost exclusively in Victoria and why have they emerged in Victoria? Because there has been widespread community transmission of the virus.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
So it’s not at all a policy failure of the Federal Government?
ALAN TUDGE:
When you have widespread community transmission of the virus, then of course it massively increases the risks of it getting into the aged care facilities because inevitably even on a daily basis, you think about it, Raf. I mean you have some staff going in and out. You have supplies going in and out of those aged care facilities. You have trucks going in and out delivering food.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
Can I ask the same question in a different way perhaps, Minister? Is any of it the Federal Government’s fault?
ALAN TUDGE:
There has been some particularly three or four aged care facility instances, which have not been satisfactory, and the Prime Minister’s made that very clear.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
Is that the Federal Government’s fault?
ALAN TUDGE:
The Federal Government provides the bulk of the funding to the aged care sector, as you know, and by and large regulates the aged care facilities but they tend to be run by non-profit organisations; in some instances, for profit organisations.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
So it’s the people who run the nursing homes. It’s their fault, not your fault?
ALAN TUDGE:
Raf, where you don’t have broad community transmission, you don’t have the problems in the aged care facilities. Right? This is a particular problem in Victorian aged care facilities, not in aged care facilities in any other jurisdiction. Now why is that, Raf? Because there is broad scale community transmission of the virus.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
Why do you think there’s been no deaths in State Government run homes but there has been in Federal Government homes?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well there haven’t been that many I should say, the infections have only got into 3 per cent of all of aged care facilities in the country.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
That’s not an answer to my question.
ALAN TUDGE:
Only about 8 per cent of all of the aged care facilities in Victoria. So 92 per cent of the facilities be they privately run, be they state governments run, be they not-for-profit run.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
I mean I know it’s not your policy area, Minister, but do you have to have a reason why you think there’s been no deaths in the ones run by the Victorian Government and 358 deaths in August in the ones you run?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, there’s been no infections in the 92 per cent of aged care facilities in Victoria and 97 per cent nationally.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
1300-222-774 is the phone number. Alan Tudge, Where are you right now? Are you in Canberra or are you in Melbourne?
ALAN TUDGE:
I’m in Canberra now. Parliament’s sitting.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
Does it feel to you like it’s a bit us versus them. I think a lot of people in Victoria feel like it’s sort of us against the rest of the country. Does it feel like that to you in Canberra?
ALAN TUDGE:
Certainly, there is enormous focus on Victoria and obviously, I mean people read the newspapers and sometimes we’re the butt of some of the jokes around the country. But I think that the rest of Australia also understands that it is very serious in Victoria; that hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost; that the mental health consequences are absolutely enormous. Now I don’t think it’s interesting even, Raf, just speaking to some of my colleagues from around the country. They conceptually know what the restrictions are in Victoria.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
They don’t know what it feels like, do they?
ALAN TUDGE:
But they actually don’t know what it feels like and in Parliament House, for example, we’re required to wear masks just in the corridors. And it’s amazing how many people say: ah geez, these masks, I don’t like wearing them very often. And I sort of point out and I say: this is 24/7 for us in Victoria. You can’t even go out at night after 8 o’clock.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
Can I just ask you a bit about some of the comments you made last week? You gave a pretty interesting speech just about I guess the cohesiveness of our community.
ALAN TUDGE:
Can I just interrupt, sorry, for a second? I’ve just got a vote being called in the Chamber.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
Oh. That’s okay. Do you have to go to that?
ALAN TUDGE:
I don’t know if you want me to come back?
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
Oh that’s okay. If you go, you go and you don’t have a choice. When the House calls you, you have to go.
ALAN TUDGE:
I don’t have a choice and the vote is obviously very tight in the Chamber, so I apologise for that, Raf.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN:
I understand. That is fine. That is fine, Alan Tudge. One of the hazards of a Drive show. That is okay. We will see if we can get you back. You go and vote. And we might return to Alan Tudge if and when we can.
[ENDS]
