Interview with Jim Wilson - 2GB Radio
Subjects: More support for child care providers affected by COVID-19 lockdowns, mental health impacts of lockdowns on youth and plans beyond 70/80 per cent vaccination.
JIM WILSON:
More financial support for child care providers has been announced this afternoon. Alan Tudge is the Federal Education Minister and he joins me on the line. Minister, welcome back to Drive.
ALAN TUDGE:
G’day, Jim.
JIM WILSON:
Well done for reaching out to these providers with extra support. What have you announced?
ALAN TUDGE:
So we've announced that these providers will get an additional 25 per cent of their pre-lockdown revenue if they're subject to a directive, as they are now, for kids not to be going to the child care centres, and we’ll provide for the after school hours’ providers 40 per cent of their pre-lockdown revenue. And that's on top of the other supports that they've already got. So that gives us some confidence that they'll be able to remain viable to stay open for those essential workers and to be able to bounce back as quickly as possible once the lockdowns end.
JIM WILSON:
Okay. Just as far as children across the board, though, as far as education goes, I mean, across our state, they've been forced to learn from home for weeks and weeks. And we’re in week nine of lockdown. There's no guarantees the kids will be able to return to the classroom this year at all. How concerned are you about students missing out on valuable and necessary lessons in the classroom?
ALAN TUDGE:
I'm concerned for two reasons, actually, Jim. One is that they do lose that face-to-face learning. Now, some kids will fly during that process, but other kids will struggle. But the second thing that I'm worried about, and perhaps even more than the first, is the mental health impacts of kids not associating with each other. Now, I'm from Victoria, from Melbourne. We've had the longest lockdowns of all. And I can tell you the mental health impact is absolutely devastating down there. Now, those lockdowns have been for a lot longer than New South Wales. But we see some of the initial data coming out of New South Wales, which is not positive either on that front. So we want to get these schools back open as quickly as possible. That is dependent on the vaccination rollout, of course, which is going very, very well. And we want to get the whole community back to normal as quickly as possible.
JIM WILSON:
You’d speak to your state colleague or your counterpart, Sarah Mitchell, the Education Minister here in NSW. So do you feel like in the next 24 - 48 hours that we'll get some sort of roadmap and some clarity for mums and dads, parents listening to the program about getting their kids – hopefully back for even part of term four?
ALAN TUDGE:
Yeah, I’ve not been discussing the ins and outs of that with her in recent days. I’ve probably more been focussed on this child care issue, actually. But I know that they are thinking about this very, very carefully. I do point out that the Doherty advice, which has done all the modelling for us, they say that when we hit 70 per cent of the population vaccinated, then schools can be reopened, when there hasn't been a big outbreak, of course. And we're getting very rapidly in Sydney towards that figure. So I'm increasingly confident. Now, in Melbourne, I don't know. But I'm hoping that we can get those schools back open as quickly as possible so the kids can get back there, their learning can continue and, moreover, they can just participate and engage with each other again and hopefully feel healthier too.
JIM WILSON:
Just on the vaccine rollout for a moment, once we hit that 70 or 80 per cent vaccination threshold, lockdowns hopefully will be a thing of the past. You're from Victoria. I mean, are you confident that Daniel Andrews will come to the party?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, he made a deal not just with the Prime Minister over this national plan, but he made a deal with the Victorian public that he would adhere to the national plan. And that national plan says that when we hit 70 per cent, then lockdowns are less likely. And when we hit 80 per cent, you'll only ever have highly, highly targeted lockdowns. And I think, to be honest, I think the public will erupt if he doesn't adhere to the plan which he agreed to.
JIM WILSON:
Do you think he'll do that, though? The fact that he’s signed off on this at National Cabinet, pre-this latest outbreak in Victoria and also the one here in New South Wales?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, I hope so. I think he owes it to the Victorian public. I really do. Like we've had a gutful in Victoria. I can tell you, Jim, we've had over 200 days of lockdown. We haven't had a normal term of school since 2019. And Patrick McGorry, perhaps our most respected mental health expert in the country, calls the mental health impacts the shadow pandemic, such is his concern about the mental health issues associated with school closures and more generally, with lockdowns. So we've got to reopen. We've got to live with it. As the Prime Minister was just saying today, if we don't reopen when we get to 70 to 80 per cent of vaccinations, when do we reopen? Alright! When do we reopen? So we've just got to. And this is based, by the way, it's not just a figure we've made up. It's based on the best advice that we've got from the Doherty Institute, which is the leading institute for infectious diseases, combined with the best economic advice that we've got from Treasury, who say that if you remain locked down after 80 per cent, you do net more damage to the economy and net more damage overall to society.
JIM WILSON:
So you're confident that those state leaders, including Daniel Andrews, Mark McGowan, Anastasia Palaszczuk, will come to the table with the 70 or 80 per cent vaccine threshold, whatever that number is, as of COVID cases, if it were for not at zero, for example?
ALAN TUDGE:
I guess Jim, I'm saying they have to. They have to.
JIM WILSON:
But will they, realistically? You've obviously got your concerns.
ALAN TUDGE:
Listen, in some respects, Jim, nothing would surprise me, but they have to. And I think the Australian public and the Victorian public, Queensland public, I think would be bitterly disappointed if they didn't adhere to the national plan, which they have agreed. And as I said, not just agreed with the Prime Minister, but have agreed effectively with the Australian people that that's what they're going to do. And at the moment, it's providing the confidence and it's providing the hope that the public needs. And that's the hope that, yes, we can see the horizon here. There's light there. And it's not far away, given how people are stepping up and getting vaccinated now in just such significant numbers, particularly in Sydney.
JIM WILSON:
Yeah, well, the rates, I mean, a record day yesterday, we’re heading in the right direction. And I agree. I think there's light at the end of the tunnel and it's something that we're in control of, that we can control to regain some of our freedoms and get back to get life back to some sort of normality.
ALAN TUDGE:
Absolutely. Absolutely, Jim. I think people are desperate for that, particularly Melbourne and Sydney, who have had the longer lockdown periods.
JIM WILSON:
Minister, as always, thank you for your time this afternoon.
ALAN TUDGE:
Thanks very much, Jim.
JIM WILSON:
Good on you. That's Federal Education Minister, Alan Tudge.