Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
CNN Looks At UK Firms' Long Haul As Deadline Closes In; Countdown Grows More Urgent As End Of Year Looms; U.S. Warns Suspected Russian Hack Wider Than Thought; Former Australian PM On Fraying Relations With China; Assessing How Australia Has Managed COVID-19; Thank You To Our Front-Line Heroes. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired December 18, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: We've reached the hard nuts to crack, so goes the thinking of Europe's Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier to which
one asks you're only getting to those nuts now? That's nuts.
I must say that with entirely straight face without cracking. We're now down to the final hours to strike a Brexit deal. Actually, I should put a
tiny weenie asteroid on that sentence, because I've said that before and before that and maybe once or twice before that, but the leaders keep
totally upending the rules.
Look at this calendar. "X" marks the spot ever, well, exactly nothing. They are missed deadlines, but that irony doesn't seem to capture imagination in
Brussels. This deadline is, they say, is as real as ever, and perhaps it is. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHEL BARNIER, EUROPEAN CHIEF NEGOTIATOR: That's the moment of truth. We have very little time remaining, just a few hours to work through these
negotiations in a useful fashion if you want this agreement to enter into force on the 1st of January.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, there you go. Britain's Prime Minister also conceding that, "Things are looking difficult for striking a deal", no kidding, and if that
comes to pass what happens? Well, Anna Stewart now connects us to that reality.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still 13 miles out from the Port of Dover they are in for the long haul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART (on camera): How long is the queue, hours?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two hours maybe.
STEWART (on camera): Two hour.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we have more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I can see is the queue on this side and the other side. It's the same here but another three to four to get across.
STEWART (voice-over): The pandemic has caused more disruption for months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to take us probably four to five hours to cross over to France.
STEWART (voice-over): The last few weeks have seen queues getting longer and British Hauliers Alcaline are putting it down to Brexit and a risk of
no deal.
DAVID ZACCHEO, OPERATION MANAGER, ALCALINE: Pandemic-wise I don't think it has much to do with this. This is just purely stockpiling which a lot of
customers have been doing for the past couple of months. In 2021, this could be like this on a daily base is.
STEWART (voice-over): To beat the traffic, Alcaline are taking to the skies. They bought two helicopters. We're flying over the English Channel
from Dover to Calais; the main artery of trade between the UK and the EU queues on both sides is a disruption some businesses just can't afford.
STEWART (on camera): What sort of items you are transporting with a helicopter?
TOM PREECE, PILOT, ALCALINE: Its basically car parts, and we will take all the light things. I took some wind screen wipers for example. You will
take; say a thousand of those in. If their production line were to stop, it's far more cost effective to get a helicopter. We're now going to coast
out back to the UK. Have a good day. Good day.
STEWART (on camera): We're just crossed over the white cliffs of Dover. We are back; it's taken us less than 20 minutes to do the whole round trip.
For those people driving the Lorries, it's taking hours, sometimes up to a day.
STEWART (voice-over): Helicopters are a huge investment for this haulage firm, and it's not the only money they have spent preparing for Brexit.
LORENZO ZACCHEO, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ALCALINE: We made over 3 million pound investment and maybe half of it is a complete waste of money could have
been invested elsewhere doing other things, you know, because not knowing what - what the future is going to be, like, you know, what kind of deal
we're going to have until the very last minute, you know, so obviously it was impossible. You can't plan anything.
STEWART (voice-over): They may have to permanently move half their fleet to Europe next year making British driver's redundant fresh back from Italy, a
familiar face.
STEWART (on camera): I've missed you, Gordon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've missed you.
STEWART (voice-over): I filmed with Gordon nearly two years ago. His journeys are taking much longer now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today it took me five hours. Two weeks ago it took me nine hours.
STEWART (on camera): I do remember you saying that the only Brexit for you was a no-deal Brexit. Do you still want this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes. Even though I live in Italy, I still want a no-deal Brexit. I think it's the only way.
STEWART (on camera): But you're spending hours in queues.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will clear up. It will get better. I'm optimistic. You've got to be anyhow. Otherwise you wouldn't do this sort of work.
STEWART (voice-over): If only everyone was so optimistic. Anna Stewart CNN, Dover, England.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, the European parliament leaders saying Thursday they did not want to be, "Rushed into a consent vote". Now they are calling for a
deal by this Sunday night. David McAllister is the Chairman of the EU Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee and is their Representative on Brexit
and he joins me now live from Brussels.
[11:05:00]
ANDERSON: So with respect, not wanting to be rushed into anything at this state would be lost on an awful lot of our viewers. The EU's Chief
Negotiator Michel Barnier saying earlier we just have hours left effectively to strike a deal. What does that deal look like at this point?
DAVID MCALLISTER, CHAIRMAN, EU PARLIAMENT FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Well, it's crunch time here in Brussels, and the negotiations are certainly going
into the very decisive phase now, and we should have clarity whether there will be a deal or not this weekend. This was for position of the European
parliament. A lot of progress has been made on all the different, difficult issues, but still gaps need to be bridged, in particular on fisheries.
ANDERSON: OK. Michel Barnier also said this earlier. It is the Brits who decided on a very short deadline within which we are now constrained if
they should leave without an agreement if we so desire or without, it's up to the Brits, nevertheless, the Brits who decided on that deadline. Have a
listen to who Boris Johnson said earlier?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Our door is open. We'll keep - we'll keep talking, but I have to say that things are - are looking difficult and
there's a gap that needs to be bridged. The UK has done a lot we think to try and help, and we hope that our EU friends will - will see sense and
come to the table with - with something them so because that's really where we are, and if that doesn't happen, then, well, come January the 1st we
will be trading on WTO terms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Right. So you say this is all about fishing. The Prime Minister says we just need to bridge the gap, so what is the gap when it comes to
fishing at this point if that's all there is?
MCALLISTER: First of all, we are under enormous time pressure, and this is because of political decisions taken in London. The British side decided to
limit the transition period to the 31st of December, and the UK government has refused to even consider extending the transition period, so that's why
we're under time pressure, and, indeed, gaps need a to be bridged as to what the prime minister just said.
It's on fisheries, but also we're tackling difficult issues like the level playing field. We're offering the British side something we've never
offered a third quota before, quota-free, tariff-free access to the world's largest single market but we need to protect the integrity of our single
market and it's about free and fair competition on both sides of the channel.
ANDERSON: You have said that in order to prepare for ever eventuality the European Parliament will adopt a no-deal set of contingency measures on
Friday, so talking about a no-trade deal here, and you are putting a set of contingency measures together. Can you just explain what that means in
reality?
MCALLISTER: The European Parliament has adopted targeted contingency measures this morning because we need to be prepared now for all possible
scenarios including a no deal which cannot be ruled out at this stage, and these contingency measures are about smoothing the most severe consequences
of an un-orderly British withdrawal from the single market and the Customs Union on the 1st of January.
It's about full legislative packages including air transport, aviation security, road transport and fisheries. So we've adopted these contingency
measures, and they will be put into force in case of a no deal if we get a deal then they of course, will not be implemented, but we are now prepared
for any outcome.
ANDERSON: Look, critics of the whole Brexit process have been concerned about the reality of all of this, being exactly what my colleague Anna
Stewart has just been reporting on. Huge queues both sides of the English Channel, business becoming really difficult and effectively sort of
chaotic. Is that just the half of it? What's the worst-case scenario as far as you're concerned here?
MCALLISTER: The whole Brexit process is a sad story. There are no winners in this. It's about trying to mitigate the most severe consequences. It was
a British decision to leave the European Union.
[11:10:00]
MCALLISTER: It is a British decision to leave the single market and the Customs Union in two weeks and, of course, leaving the European Union,
leaving our single market, leaving the Customs Union has negative consequences, and this is a result of a political decision taken in London.
You know that we in the European Union deeply regret this, but we have to make the best of the situation. That's why we are still negotiating until
the last possible minute that we get a deal because a deal would be beneficial for both sides, not only for the European Union.
ANDERSON: The UK does 50 percent of its trade with the EU. The EU does some 7 percent of its trade with the UK. At the end of the day and during this
entire process and we have seen just how many times these talks have been delayed, cancelled, deadlines have been extended. Has the EU had the UK
over a barrel effectively?
MCALLISTER: The United Kingdom will remain our neighbor. The United Kingdom will remain an important trading partner for us in Europe, and the United
Kingdom will remain an important ally and political partner so we on purpose are talking about a partnership for our future relations which is
more than just a relationship.
We want to have the closest possible relations with the United Kingdom. We respect red lines drawn by the UK government, but the British side needs to
know that we're also firm on our principles, especially when it comes to the integrity of our single market, the functioning of the European Union
and also to avoid anything which could endanger peace and prosperity on the Island of Ireland.
ANDERSON: At the beginning of this year of 2020, Brexit sort of front and center when we considered, you know, talking politics in the UK and indeed
across the European Union. Given the shadow that COVID, of the Coronavirus has cast, has that in some ways put this Brexit, this whole negotiation,
the issues of Brexit sort of into more context?
MCALLISTER: Well, the COVID-19 pandemic was an additional burden in these difficult negotiations. You may remember that both Chief Negotiators Michel
Barnier and David Frost were ill themselves and for many weeks there were no personal negotiations, but they had to be done in a digital way.
This was all an additional burden, and despite the burden of a pandemic, still the British side was not ready to extend the transition period, so
that's why we are now under this really enormous time pressure at the end of this year 2020.
ANDERSON: Personally, what do you want to see at the end of all of this?
MCALLISTER: I still sincerely hope that in the end we can agree on something which is good, ambitious, balanced and an agreement which both
sides can accept and on this firm legal basis we can open a new chapter between the relations - as regard the relations of the United Kingdom to
Continental Europe.
ANDERSON: And if you were a betting man, is that where we will be just hours from now?
MCALLISTER: I'm not a betting man. I apologize, and certainly I have stopped betting on anything regarding the ongoing negotiations between the
European Union and the United Kingdom. I just firmly believe that this drama should finally come to an end, and hopefully it will be a positive
end.
ANDERSON: David McAllister, it's a pleasure having you on, sir, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Well, still to come, one of the biggest
perhaps in history, maybe even bigger than previously thought the latest on the suspected Russian attack that targeted some of the U.S. government's
most secretive and sensitive documents. Also ahead--
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they put me out last year, year to date, with the Christmas tree on a cold day like this, with a Christmas tree. If you have
to move, we want you to move with dignity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: American minorities hit hard by the pandemic economy fight to stay in their hopes.
[11:15:00]
We'll look at the January deadline that could mean mass evictions across the country. And my interview with the Former Australian Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull, our wide-ranging talk on Australia's response to Coronavirus, increases tensions with China and a Murdoch media empire.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: We'll give you an update now on an enormous hack. We're still learning details of its size and scope U.S. Cyber Security officials say
that a suspected Russian hack is much more widespread than previously thought. The great list of targets includes several U.S. government
agencies including Homeland Security and the U.S. Energy Department which oversees the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.
Officials say the hack poses a grave risk to computer systems worldwide. Hundreds of major companies are believed to be victims. Microsoft has
identified more than 40 of its customers around the world who were affected, including clients here in the UAE. CNN's Alex Marquardt is
following the story for you. Alex?
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Well Becky, what's becoming clear is we know the very broad strokes of this attack that has been going
on for nine months, but there's an enormous amount that we do not know. The U.S. government and all of these companies are essentially in damage
control to try to figure out what was accessed?
What data was seen? What was spied on? What might have been changed or stolen? But what is becoming increasingly clear is that this was an
extraordinarily sophisticated attack, and what has been revealed so far doesn't - does not complete the full picture of what federal officials at
least here in the United States are aware of?
Becky, the U.S. Cyber Agency which is known as CISA over here put out an alarming new statement yesterday in which they said that the attackers who
have been in these systems since March used additional ways in on top of the software that was issued by a company called Solar Winds that we
already knew about.
So they used other ways in that this agency is still investigating. They said that these - these intrusions pose a very grave risk, and I'll read
part of their statement to federal - federal government and state and local and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and
other private sector organizations.
Removing this actor from government environments will be highly complex and challenging for organizations. So what that means is that the enemy, these
adversaries, these highly complex cyber actors are so deeply entrenched in these systems that it is going to get - it is going to be very hard to get
them out.
You would think that we might have heard from President Trump by now. We have not, even though this first came to light on Sunday evening. We have
heard from President-Elect Joe Biden in a very forceful statement staying in part that when he comes into office he will not stand idly by in the
face of cyber assaults on our nation. Becky?
ANDERSON: This is absolutely remarkable, Alex. Microsoft's President has spoken. He said, and I quote, it's a certainty that the number of location
- the number and location of victims will keep growing.
[11:20:00]
ANDERSON: I mean this is seriously concerning explain what he means by that?
MARQUARDT: Yes. The comments there from Microsoft's President were very aggressive. He's kind of saying that we're essentially on a war footing.
You mentioned the number of companies that Microsoft has identified as 40. Those are companies that were particularly compromised in this attack.
What he's talking about there is that there are 18,000 customers who use this Orion Software by this company Solar Winds that these suspected
Russian attackers used to get into the system. So there are 18,000 potential victims just among those Solar Winds clients, but as I was just
mentioning there is other ways that these hackers got into these systems so there could be even more victims out there.
Among those companies that Microsoft has identified 80 percent of them are in the United States. Those remaining 20 percent are in seven other
countries so that's what he's saying is that there are potentially more victims, and within more countries who have been affected by this months'
long series of intrusions by these suspected Russian hackers. Becky?
ANDERSON: Alex, have we ever seen anything like the scope of this?
MARQUARDT: We are having a very hard time, and when I say we, I mean the cyber security experts, U.S. officials, private experts are having a very
hard time coming up with new superlatives. They are almost in awe of the sophistication of this attack.
The fact that we now know, according to the cyber agency, that this started in March and that they have - these attackers have been essentially living
inside these systems for the past nine months without any sort of detection speaks to not just the sophistication of that attack but the failure and
the inability of the various - various systems here in the United States, both military and civilian, to be able to detect this.
It's simply an extraordinary attack, the likes of which it is fair to say we have not seen before. We are certainly entering a new phase in - in
cyber warfare, if you will, cyber attacks, and now the big question for President-Elect Biden is going to be how do you respond to this? How do you
deal with this?
He's coming out with strong language, but we have to - his administration will have to get a fuller accepts of what exactly has been impacted before
any response is possible, and as we've been saying for days now that impact is far from clear.
ANDERSON: Yes, I mean, we have to say we were warned. Counterintelligence has been talking about the issue with cyber attacks now, haven't they, for
years, but when it comes it's still a huge surprise and worrying. Alex, thank you.
MARQUARDT: Thank you.
ANDERSON: Well, it's not had a hack that is threatening to shut down the U.S. government but lawmakers them there's just about 12 hours to go until
a government shutdown, and it's all tied to another Coronavirus stimulus package.
Now, lawmakers in the U.S. are wrangling over a deal, and they have been doing so for months. If they can't reach one by midnight Friday, that's
today local tame, they may need to pass a short-term funding bill to actually keep the government there running.
The Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says he's increasingly optimistic that they will reach an agreement. Well, listen, no stimulus
means more people may lose their homes. That's the bottom line and that will happen come January. It will be time for renters to pay up as a
nationwide hold on evictions expires.
For many who are out of work that hold was the only saving grace. Nick Valencia one of our colleagues spoke with some of those people in Atlanta,
Georgia.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Like so many others behind on their rent Jasmine Cruz says she's living on borrowed time. A federal halt on
evictions is set to expire December 31st. Cruz, a single mother who owes her landlord two months of rent was issued a warrant to pay it. Every day
she wakes up expecting to be evicted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASMINE CRUZ, ATLANTA RESIDENT HANDED EVICTION NOTICE: I'm 25 years old. I'm single mother, and I try on my own off of one income it's not easy.
I've been struggling.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Now with a 2-month-old son no job and unable to pay for child care during the pandemic she looks after her son full-time with
nowhere else to go and no one to count on, Cruz came here to the Thrive Resource Center. Operated out of a makeshift office in an apartment complex
Monica DeLancy helps those in Atlanta who are at risk of being evicted.
[11:25:00]
VALENCIA (voice-over): All are either black or Latino and DeLancy know their story well.
MONICA DELANCY, FOUNDER, THRIVE RESOURCE CENTER: They put me out last year, year to the date, with a Christmas tree on a cold day like this, with a
Christmas tree. We don't want you to get to that point. If you have to move, we want you to move with dignity.
We want you to move and pack your things up and we'll find you a place, but we don't want you to be forced out because kids do not know how to get over
that. Adults can. Kids don't know how to.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Kids like 9-year-old Fantasia lives with her Grandmother Garnell Hodge, Hodge who lost her job in a service industry
because of COVID. Last week Hodge says Fantasia started to realize how bad things were when the family got an eviction notice.
GARNELL HODGE, ATLANTA RESIDENT HANDED EVICTION NOTICE: I don't have anywhere to go because rents are so hard and I don't have much income.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Black and Latino families constantly report low confidence in the ability to pay the rent during the pandemic. According to
the National Low Income Housing Coalition communities of color are the hardest hit by the eviction crisis and represent 80 percent of people
facing eviction. In Atlanta the United Way says 95 percent of the families they help who are facing eviction are black.
PROTIP BISWAS, VICE PRESIDENT FOR HOMELESSNESS, UNITED WAY OF GREATER ATLANTA: Like I said there are 2,500 applications in process, and there's
thousands of more.
VALENCIA (on camera): And you're to a point where you can accept you can't help everybody that needs help.
BISWAS: Not - help. The funding expires in December. That's the biggest plea we have, that there are some way to extend it so that we can help
keeping families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Nick Valencia reporting for you. Well, still ahead, Australia's Former Prime Minister talks with CNN about the COVID response in his
nation. My interview with Malcolm Turnbull is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: Welcome back. You'll have heard the term death by a thousand cuts. Well, it comes from an ancient form of torture originating way back
to Imperial China. It also seems like a pretty handy way to describe how China's relationship with Australia is moving along this hour, falling
apart, cut by cut, by cut.
Everything from barley to coal to doctored Twitter images have been pulled into the fray as relations go from bad to quite simply awful. All together
there's a sense of the scope of what's going on and the situation and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison now has on his hands. David Culver
filed this report for you from Beijing.
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In April Morrison was among the first world leaders to call for an international inquiry into Beijing's handling
of the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN GONG, UNIVERSITY OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS: That sounds very outrageous to China because it puts China sort of in the same footing
as Iraq being investigated for weapons of mass destruction.
CULVER (voice-over): Beginning in May Beijing began targeting lucrative Australian exports to China, including wine, barley and beef. They face
high tariffs, anti-subsidy investigations and lengthy delays clearing customs. In September the last two reporters working for Australian News
Organizations in China were evacuated after being questioned by Chinese authorities over a national security case.
TOM SWITZER, CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT STUDENTS IN SYDNEY: There are a lot of countries in the region, most notably Australia, very anxious about China's
rise and I want the United States to be heavily engaged, both militarily and diplomatically in the Asia-Pacific region.
GONG: I don't quite see it that way. I think there's also room for more international cooperation.
CULVER (voice-over): The plight of Australia is not lost on the incoming Biden Administration. While not mentioning China specifically, the
President-Elect's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted in part as we have for a century America will stand shoulder to shoulder with our
ally Australia and rally fellow democracies to advance our shared security, prosperity and values, a pledge that Australia certainly hopes to see
President Biden uphold from the White House. David Culver, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, just a sense there of the complexity of the relationship. To put this all in context I caught up with Australia's Former Prime
Minister Malcolm Turnbull and I began by asking to characterize the state of play between his country and China. Have a listen.
MALCOLM TURNBULL, FORMER AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: What we're seeing is I'm very consorted effort from Beijing to put pressure on Australia, to
secure greater compliance from Australia in the sense of trying to ensure that Australia does not speak its mind on issues that relate to the
people's Republic of China, whether it's the South China Sea, whether it's the treatment of Uyghurs, whether it is origins of the COVID pandemic so
it's - it's - it is a squeeze play, and it's something that is a tactic that they have deployed against other countries.
My experience having been put under pressure in a similar way myself is that once the government in Beijing realizes that the pressure is not
working in the sense it's not securing any satisfactory outcomes they will adjust the tactics.
ANDERSON: So what would you suggest Australia's position should be at this point?
TURNBULL: Appealing to the WTO is the right thing to do. One thing you can't do is take a backward step. The reality is right at the moment
Chinese companies, you know, manufacturers, generators, steel-makers are paying more for coal than they otherwise would because they're not buying
Australian car.
I mean, trade is a two-way street. China does not trade with Australia or vice versa because of some, you know, deep emotional affection. I mean, I
have to say there is - you know there is considerable affection between Australian and Chinese people.
I mean, about 1.25 million Australians are of Chinese heritage including two of our four grandchildren so there's every basis for a friendly and
close relationship but this type of pressure confirms all of the worst fears that people have about, you know, the rising communist power in
Beijing.
[11:35:00]
ANDERSON: I've just seen what's sure to be a seminal work, this a 74-page report from the U.S. State Department entitled the elements of the China
challenge, and it opens by saying that the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP has triggered a new era of great power competition.
I wonder, sir, whether you see Australia as the canary in the coal mine, as it were. Are you getting enough support from say Washington and - and the
west as it were?
TURNBULL: You can't have too much support in something like this. The current foreign policy, if you can call it that, from China, is utterly
counterproductive. I mean, I've - you know, I used - I made this point to Chinese leaders, to both Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang actually you know here
in my house in Sydney, I made exactly that point to Premier Li when he and his wife came to dinner with us a few years back.
Look, the reality is this, that foreign policy is designed to win friends and influence people, then what is going on at the moment is utterly
counterproductive because it is alienating people. It is creating anxieties. I mean, Trump represented an enormous opportunity for China
because he was so aggressive, so flaky and erratic, you know, upsetting long-standing allies.
Threatening, you know, to pull out of long-standing alliances. Actually pulling out of important international agreements including Paris so there
was an opportunity for China to rival in this part of the world to be as unlike Trump as possible.
ANDERSON: I just want our viewers to have a listen to Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: We need to be having the rest of our friends with us saying to China these are the rules. You play by them or
you're going to pay the price for not paying by them economically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's draw this all together. Where does this all end, and do you believe that China sort of high tail it and cave in here once we get a
different, for example, U.S. President Post January the 20th?
TURNBULL: China does not have many allies, and it has - it has some countries that you could describe as clients, but, you know, it does not
have a web of international relationships that the United States has had.
Now, Donald Trump disrupted that but, you know, his presidency is drawing to a close, and I don't think he's done enough damage to prevent Biden from
returning to take that traditional role, so, you know, the Biden - the Biden Presidency simply by being conventional, it will be - will, you know,
add enormously I think to stability in the region and the world.
ANDERSON: Antony Blinken, the Nominated Secretary of State for Joe Biden, certainly believes that re-engaging with allies, rebuilding these alliances
around the world will put the U.S. in a better position of strength to take on the China file as the incoming Foreign Minister. Let's talk Brexit. I
want our viewers just to hear what you told the BBC the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TURNBULL: Be careful what you wish for. Australia's relationship with the EU is not one from a trade point of view that Britain I think would want to
- would want.
There's been talk in the UK that if they can't negotiate, you know, essentially a free trade agreement with Europe post-Brexit that Britain
could have an Australian deal.
We're not stopping. The talks will continue to negotiate, but looking at where we are, I do think it's vital that everybody now gets ready for that
Australian option.
There is no Australian deal. It's likely the rally we do not have any deal with Europe. We trade on World Trade Organization terms. Were Britain to
trade with Europe on WTO terms, so analogous to what we trade on, that would be a very big shock because it would - you know, they would go from
being trading on, you know, a perfectly free basis no tariffs, no quotas inside the free trade area to basically being on the outside lined up with
everybody else and paying a heavy price for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's talk about COVID-19. Australia has brought transmission rates now down significantly twice. Prime Minister Scott Morrison touting
his success to world leaders, but it's come at a cost. For the last five months Australia has, for example, been limiting the number of
international arrivals per week.
[11:40:00]
ANDERSON: The cap is designed to relieve pressure off this mandatory quarantine, but to what cost? At least 39,000 Australians and we have been
reporting on this, are now currently stranded abroad because of that cap system.
TURNBULL: Well, look, I certainly wish all those Australians were home, Becky and I think, you know, it's a great pity that the governments, and
you've got to remember most of the heavy lifting in this pandemic in Australia has been done by the state and territory governments rather than
the federal government.
Look, it's one part of the pandemic management in Australia that I think, you know, is really suboptimal. You know, it's not good enough.
ANDERSON: When you were leading Australia did you have or were you aware of a plan for a pandemic?
TURNBULL: Oh, yes, absolutely. Ever since SARS there has been, you know, plans, planning, contingency plans put in place to deal with the pandemic.
I would say Australia's preparation was good, but with the benefit of hindsight I think there are plenty of people who would say it wasn't good
enough.
ANDERSON: Staying on domestic front. You have partnered with another Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to take on Rupert Murdoch's media monopoly in
Australia, the record-breaking petition calling for a royal commission has gained more than half a million signatures which led to a senate inquiry
into media diversity. For those from the outside in, what is the landscape of Australian media, and what are you hoping to achieve at this point?
TURNBULL: Well, look, I think Murdoch - Murdoch has about 70 percent of daily newspaper circulation in Australia, and he's very influential
elsewhere in the media landscape. What the Murdoch News Organization has become today is essentially a propaganda operation.
You know, it isn't any longer a conventional news reporting organization which may lean, you know, one way or the other come election time. It is -
well, you know, Fox News is the great exemplar of that. People know what that is.
It is undiluted propaganda, and, you know, they have driven populist, often authoritarian and populist agendas which I think have done enormous damage
to western democracies. Now the United States has suffered by farther worse. I mean, they have Fox has enabled Trump. It has driven a climate-
denial agenda.
Let's face it. What is the loudest voice in the English speaking world opposing action on climate change? It's Rupert Murdoch's voice. What was
the loudest media voice in the United Kingdom supporting Brexit, Rupert Murdoch, and what was the loudest media voice supporting Trump? Again,
Rupert Murdoch now Brexit, Trump and climate denial, that's a hell of a trifecta. You know, if you think all of those things are good, well, I'm
not sure that history will agree with you.
ANDERSON: Well, that is the Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in what was a fascinating wide-ranging discussion. We've got some
fresh info out of Australia for you now. Hopes of having a Christmas like this, well, they are going out of the window it seems the reason, a new
COVID cluster near Sydney that has infected at least 28 people.
It happened after a two-week lull in local transmissions which allowed much of the country to scrap social distancing rules. Well, now people in the
area are lining up to get tested. They are also urged to stay at home over the weekend while the States of Victoria and Queensland are imposing travel
bans on anyone from the affected zone. The move playing havoc with Christmas travel plan, as you can imagine, for thousands of Australians.
Well, over in Japan heavy snow has brought traffic to a standstill that normally wouldn't make international news. But when you find out that 1,000
cars were ground to a halt, well, it changes things a little. At its peak the traffic jam stretched for almost 15 kilometers according to Japan's
highway operator.
Reports of the jam started emerging as early as Wednesday, and as of Friday afternoon more than 600 cars were still stuck. Emergency responders have
been passing out food, water and fuel. The government said it was trying to get people into hotels where possible. Well, coming up on the show, how
restoring a bog in Scotland can help fighting climate change.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
ANDERSON: "Call to Earth" is a call to action for the environment on issues like global warming, deforestation and plastic waste, for example. It's a
long-term priority for all of us here at CNN to work with you, our audience, to drive awareness and hopefully inspire change so that we can
all engineer a sustainable future.
Well, in today's report the extraordinary eco-systems that help regulate our climate and why it is critical to protect them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around the world there are eco-systems that absorb and hold huge amounts of greenhouse gases. These are carbon sinks they play a
pivotal role in regulating the earth's climate and can also affect the worst impacts of the climate but they are increasingly under threat from
industrial exploitation and global warming.
From boreal forests of the north to the mangrove forests of the tropics, these carbon sinks all work in the same way. The vegetation takes CO2 from
the air and looks it under the ground through their roots. By far the largest terrestrial carbon sink in the world is perhaps one of the lesser
known Peatland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MCBRIDE, PROJECT MANAGER, PEATLAND ACTION: Not quite so sexy are a lot of other things that you see in the natural world. They are seen as
wastelands, they are seen as places that haven't got any real coverage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Peat lands cover more than 20 percent of Scotland and store more than 120 times the countries annual emissions.
MCBRIDE: We think that the majority of that sort of 80, 90 percent is probably degraded. We're here in - state which is the Woodland Trust's
largest sites, we have got beautiful lochs, mountains, grasses. About half of our 5,000 hectares is about 400 meters and of that we've got some
significant areas of Peatland.
The main sort of building block of Peat is Strana Moss (ph). This is a growing part of it as you go deeper it gets darker, and you get more decay
that means, this is where Peat will start forming and gets to a point where it's actually decayed - much of it can grow and that's when you almost
getting pure carbon. It takes 1,000 years for a meter of peat to actually form.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Known Peatlands cover a third of the earth's surface but they store more than twice as much carbon as forests
about 550 billion tons because of exploitation from industries like mining, agriculture and forestry, many carbon sinks are losing their ability to
hold carbon.
[11:50:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): And as they degrade, they release those carbon stores. Peatlands alone are estimated to be responsible for around 6
percent of all human main greenhouse gas emissions globally to combat that the Scottish government has pledged over $320 million towards Peatland
restoration over the next ten years.
MCBRIDE: It's not just in Scotland that you've got permafrost in the northern hemisphere and you got Peatlands in Indonesia as well, and this is
all part of doing a world effort basically to actually make sure that the carbon we have stored in peat stays stored in peat and doesn't go into the
atmosphere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Protecting carbon sinks also protects the havens they have become for biodiversity as well as the future of those
whose livelihoods depend on them. Mangroves are home to more than 3,000 species of fish. Restoring them helps protect the world's coast from storm
surges.
Mangroves are also five times more cost effective than concrete barriers. And stored in the world's boreal forests are an estimated 1 trillion tons
of carbon, the equivalent to more than 90 years of human-made emissions. Managed properly, these extraordinary eco-systems can recover to play a
vital role in the fight against climate change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, for more stories on amazing eco-systems helping to call the planet check out our special "Call to Earth" digital interactive that is at
cnn.com. Don't forget to let us know what you are doing with the #calltoearth back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, this is my last show of the year. I'll be handing off to my colleagues for the next couple of weeks as I work on some assignments and
quite honestly take a little break, and I know this may sound odd after such an awful year I did just want to take a moment to say thanks.
I know it's an odd way to top off a rather terrible 12 months, I get that, but in that - way I mentioned the other day alongside the very worst of
times also some of the very best, bringing out the most incredible side of humanity that I've ever seen.
Nowhere is that better witnessed, and I'm sure that you would agree, than in the people who are frontline heroes, nurses, doctors, care home
assistants in frantic conditions like this, saving lives, facing death day in, day out.
There are too many of you out there to count, but each of you counts more than you will ever know. This year your work has shown through like no
other, and what better sums that up than this. Even in a sterile COVID ward a warming embrace.
I know that people aren't banging pots every night now, but just know that for so many of us around the world we are deeply grateful to you. Your work
has touched the lives of my own extended family this year thank you, frontline heroes, and thank you to the normally unsung, the scientists and
engineers, a vaccine in months. Impossible they cried.
Well, it's done. You replied. You pulled it off, all of that scientific imagination from the labs to our grateful arms. There are way too many of
you to count.
[11:55:00]
ANDERSON: Busy in white coats as you are, so I hope that those of you out there who do work in the industry of science, forgive me if I leave these
two to represent your work. This Turkish couple in Germany at the forefront of the BioNTech's vaccine development they and you are our scientific
heroes. To all of you in white coats, thank you from all of us.
And to those getting those vaccines right now, getting it across the world and through that final mile on horseback or in the back of a truck, pilots
and engineers alike, it is an incredible challenge, one that I know you are taking on with great gusto. From me and the team here in Abu Dhabi, thank
you.
And to the delivery drivers, the mothers, the waiters, teachers, warehouse workers, people at the supermarket checkout, all the way to smart leaders
around the world, and you know who you are including here in the UAE, thank you, but most of all thank you those of you who are wearing a mask, those
of you who are staying home.
Those of you, who are listening to the advice, thank you for socially distancing so that we can all come together, especially at this time of
year. Thank you for saving millions of lives through being careful. The numbers are tragic. They are awful but they would be so much worse without
you.
We have to keep it up, all of us, so to you all one last time this year I say thank you and a brief thanks of another kind now, thanks to - my Floor
Manager here for her work here in Abu Dhabi. She is heading off for sunnier climates. In fact she's not. She's going to England. She's going to go
study in England which is great.
The whole team wishes her all the very best of luck. To you all, wherever you are watching, it is a very good evening. Take care. For those of you
who are celebrating have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
