PRESS CONFERENCE - AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT HOUSE

PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. The National Cabinet has met, we will meet on a fortnightly basis now, at least, if there are requirements to meet more regularly then we will certainly be doing so. It was a very productive meeting. I want to thank all the Premiers and Chief Ministers for coming together, but I particularly want to thank the work done by the medical expert panel. The AHPPC who has been meeting every day now for many weeks and has been following very closely the developments of this new strain that has emerged firstly out of the UK, but has now moved to many countries around the world. Indeed, 80 per cent of Australians registered overseas are now in countries where the, where that new strain is evident. And there are other strains as well as the Chief Medical Officer will set out, which means that this this virus continues to write its own rules. And that means that we must continue to be adaptable in how we continue to fight it. And that's what we have done today as we've come together.