E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY SHOW
MONDAY, 3 AUGUST 2020

SUBJECTS: Victorian Stage four restrictions; mask use in NSW.

ALLISON LANGDON, HOST: The tough lockdown measures are a last ditch attempt to bring the COVID-19 outbreak under control. Joining me now is Shadow Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten and Triple M’s Gus Worland, good morning, gentlemen. Bill, to you first, because I've got to say, I think we are all feeling for you and every Victorian this morning, it's going to be a tough six weeks ahead.

BILL SHORTEN, MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG: Yes, we are in unchartered territory. Now over 200 people have died, nearly 100 in Victoria in the last month. But curfew, I've never seen that before. Again, the schools are shut. There will be a lot of people in apartments wondering, you know, they've got to get their exercise and you've got people worried about their jobs. And in particular, I'm worried about the fatigue of the frontline health staff, the nurses and also, I worry there'll be a tsunami of mental health conditions. So this is tough times.

LANGDON: Well, that's it isn’t it, Gus? And I guess we can't underestimate the mental health impact of this.

GUS WORLAND, TRIPLE M: Look, absolutely. We've lost a couple hundred people to COVID, which, of course, is tragic, but in the same time, we've lost well over a thousand people to suicide. So if you think about that, we don't talk about that too much. But I worry that all my mates in Victoria also worry about the Premier. He's having to deliver all that bad news every single day. I worry about his mental health and the team around him, and we just need to all get back, I think we all spoke about six weeks ago when Bill and I were on together about Team Australia and how we all need to get in this together. The scenes with Bondi Beach and stuff in other parts of the country compared to Victoria, this is hard for us all not to stop, just to realise that we're only just on the edge of perhaps having that situation happening in other states. We've all got to rally together and look after each other and just keep connected and let each other know that it's okay to be struggling. But we're all here for you.

LANGDON: And Bill, what do you think when you see those scenes up on the Sunshine Coast where we saw big footy crowds and all, you've just gone into lockdown. It's a really tough six weeks ahead. How is it that you that that message isn't getting through across the border?

SHORTEN: I know this virus is invisible, but, you know, it's killing people. If people in the rest of Australia don't want to go through six weeks of curfew and lockdown and businesses shut, public transport services down and jobs under threat, if people don't want that, then just use your common sense now. There is no vaccine. This is not the flu. People are dying, and not just people in their 80s and 90s. There's over 40 people in intensive care, 24-plus on ventilating machines being kept alive. They're not all 80 and 90. If you don't what we're going through, then things like masks and avoiding big crowds, it's just common sense.

LANGDON: Gus, what are your thoughts on masks? Because in New South Wales, we've been told you should wear them, but it's not mandatory. I mean, it's either do or don’t isn’t it?

WORLAND: And that's absolutely right. We should just do it. Just say that is recommended so everyone should have to do it. So I didn't even have one. So I'm disappointed in myself now that I haven't gone round and done that. But I spoke to a few people yesterday. They all had their masks, but they're not wearing it, sort of just sort of hanging around in their car or their home. So it's about time we probably just put the line in the sand and say we all have to wear them, because if they tell us that, it's going to help. So let's do as much as we can.

LANGDON: All right. You know what? It was back in May when the prime minister said that we'd have a COVID safe economy by now. We thought our borders would be open. We're so far from that Gus, that it sort of really feels like we're on the on the edge of something here, doesn't it?

WORLAND: It really does. And if we're looking at Victorians feeling so sorry for them and wanting to send all their love, we are so close for that to happen in every other state. So everyone, please. As Bill said, we don't have a vaccine. This thing is not going away. If you've seen it everywhere else in the world, it’s happening here in Australia as well. So please, please, if you've got any sort of symptoms, go and get tested and how someone can get tested, be positive and then stroll out into the community and just think that they can get away with it or have a party or turn up somewhere. It's just unbelievable how selfish some people are. And if we catch them, we've got to throw the book at them.

LANGDON: Do you think this has been a wakeup call, Bill, for the people of Melbourne to do the right thing?

SHORTEN: Yeah, I think the people who are not at home when they've tested positive, whatever their circumstances, that is actually selfish. Well, my point would be to people watching the show, both in Melbourne, but beyond this and the rest of Australia is, every little thing you do makes a difference. You don't have to do it because some authority says do it, take precautions for your family, take precautions for yourself. And if that's not enough, take precautions for all the doctors and nurses and frontline medical staff. Many hundreds of them are sick. And so you know, let's do it for the people in our lives who matter and the people who keep us safe.

LANGDON: I mean, I think we feel for everyone at the moment, well we do. I just think now to like kids have going back, they are going to be home schooled for at least six weeks, get a lot of parents at home trying to work and trying to monitor their kids doing that. And, you know, it's fine if you live in a really big house. You've got a backyard. You've got Internet and computers. But, Bill, I'm really scared that a lot of kids are going to fall behind. You got a lot of families where they might only be one computer. There may not be Internet access. What happens to those kids?

SHORTEN: Well, I know the Department of Education is trying to provide equipment, but I'm taking my year 12 daughter to her final day of school at school today. It's so tough on the year 12’s. It's difficult homeschooling. Chloe's got meetings and I've got meetings and we've got our 10 year old. And it's a lot harder for people who are not as well off as us. And I have to just say, perhaps just as one final bit of advice, don't change the dog food of your dogs without checking if their tummies can take it, because that's been another level of disaster in my household.

LANGDON: So when you bought the new dog food, did you also buy poop bags?

SHORTEN: Oh, man… That's my exercise now, going to the bin anyway. I'm not going to name the brand. I’m not going to name the brand.

LANGDON: I don't want to leave Australia with that visual!

SHORTEN: A lot of people are doing it a lot harder than me, I get that. But oh, what a time [all laugh].

LANGDON: I tell you what though, it was a pretty grim old chat there. Thanks for giving us a bit of a laugh on a Monday morning, Bill. Stay safe. We're all thinking of you. And thanks, Gus.