House of Representatives
Wednesday 23 June 2021
I rise to offer my remarks about today's matter of public importance. I want to thank the member for Rankin for putting on the parliament's agenda the failure of the government to properly deal with the two issues that they had to focus on this year: delivering vaccinations and ensuring an adequate and efficient quarantine system for this country. What that failure has meant is an impact on our economic recovery.
We haven't heard too much about what not delivering vaccines or quarantine means, and I'll focus on a real-life example of that impact in my own community, in an important industry that I am supporting. But I first want to pick up on what the Minister for Health and Aged Care was talking about today. He somehow wanted to be congratulated. Members of this parliament on the other side want to be congratulated for their appalling record—the appalling record of what they've promised and what they've delivered.
There are four issues that I want to focus on. We were promised four million vaccinations by the end of March. We were promised six million vaccinations by 10 May. We were promised that all aged-care and disability care workers were to be vaccinated by Easter and that every Australian would be vaccinated by October. The aged-care minister today confirmed, in this parliament, that four per cent of home-care workers in aged care have been fully vaccinated and 15 per cent of all aged-care workers have been fully vaccinated. So I don't want any more word salad from the health minister or any other rubbish from those opposite. The facts are that we have botched the rollout of vaccinations in this country. Whether you like it or not, despite all the spin and bluster, we are back of the queue. I repeat: there were to be four million vaccinations by the end of March and six million vaccinations by 10 May, and all aged-care and disability care workers were to be vaccinated by Easter. This government have failed, failed, failed on their own commitments. Every worker in 1a was to be vaccinated. It has not happened. So do not get up here and ask to be congratulated for the way that you've handled vaccinations and their rollout in this country.
This government has failed to protect Australians, it's failed to roll out the vaccine effectively and efficiently and it's failed to introduce a regional quarantine system. Just this morning, the Queensland Premier called out the government on their stubborn refusal to cooperate with our Queensland government to establish a regional quarantine hub. Today we have had a 25th COVID outbreak from hotel quarantine. In Queensland we are seeing guests being infected in quarantine. We are seeing room-to-room transmission. We are seeing transmission across floors. People are coming to Australia without COVID-19—I'll say that again: they're arriving in Australia without COVID-19 and they are catching it in hotel rooms, because this government is choosing to be utterly blind to reality. Hotels are made for tourists, not quarantine. What we're dealing with is a far more contagious strain of this virus. A year ago, health experts advised the virus was transmitted with about 15 minutes of contact. Now, with the delta strain, it looks like we are seeing transmission in as little as five to 10 seconds.
Australians have worked hard to contain COVID, and we are all enjoying the benefits of their hard work. But this government has utterly let down Australians by stubbornly refusing to deal with the issue of national regional quarantine. Let me say to this parliament: Queenslanders support a regional quarantine hub. We know that. And Australians will not achieve growth without fewer lockdowns. The Wellcamp site will cost the Australian taxpayer zero dollars. It can be up and running in six months. This government refuses, in its pig-headed stubbornness, to actually listen to what Queenslanders want. We will continue to fight to make sure Queenslanders have safety, just as our Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has done. We will continue to speak out and call this government out for failing to deliver regional quarantine. It is an absolute disgrace and they should hang their heads in shame.
