Doorstop: Queensland's Covid Response

E&OE TRANSCRIPTDOORSTOP INTERVIEWSUNSHINE COAST13 SEPTEMBER 2020Topic: The Palaszczuk Government's Covid-19 responseJournalist: Kevin, what's your stance on the border closures at the moment? Do you think it's a good idea to open them up, or to keep them closed?Kevin Rudd: Anyone who's honest will tell you these are really hard decisions and it's often not politically popular to do the right thing. But I think Annastacia Palaszczuk, faced with really hard decisions, I think has made the right on-balance judgment, because she's putting first priority on the health security advice for all Queenslanders. That I think is fundamental. You see, in my case, I'm a Queenslander, proudly so, but the last five years I've lived in New York. Let me tell you what it's like living in a city like New York, where they threw health security to the wind. It was a complete debacle. And so many thousands of people died as a result. So I think we've got to be very cautious about disregarding the health security advice. So when I see the Murdoch media running a campaign to force Premier Palaszczuk to open the borders of Queensland, I get suspicious about what's underneath all that. Here's the bottom line: Do you want your Premier to make a decision based on political advice, or based on media bullying? Or do you want your Premier to make a decision based on what the health professionals are saying? And from my point of view -- as someone who loves this state, loves the Sunshine Coast, grew up here and married to a woman who spent her life in business employing thousands of people -- on balance, what Queenslanders want is for them to have their health needs put first. And you know something? It may not be all that much longer that we need to wait. But as soon as we say, 'well, it's time for politics to take over, it's time for the Murdoch media to take over and dictate when elected governments should open the borders or not', I think that's a bad day for Queensland.Journalist: Do you think the recession and the economic impact is something that Australia will be able to mitigate post pandemic?Kevin Rudd: Well, the responsibility for mitigating the national recession lies in the hands of Prime Minister Morrison. I know something about what these challenges mean. I was Prime Minister during the Global Financial Crisis when the rest of the world went into recession. So he has it within his hands to devise the economic plans necessary for the nation; state governments are responsible primarily for the health of their citizens. That's the division of labour in our commonwealth. So, it's either you have a situation where Premiers are told that it's in your political interests, because the Murdoch media has launched a campaign to throw open your borders, or you're attentive to the health policy advice from the health professionals to keep all Queenslanders safe. It's hard, it's tough, but on balance I think she's probably made the right call. In fact, I'm pretty sure she has.