House of Representatives
Thursday 26 August 2021

The people of Australia have called on this government to act on their constitutional responsibility to deliver effective quarantine. I, along with the federal Labor leader, have called on the Prime Minister to do his job and build a regional quarantine solution for the people of Queensland. But we have seen time and time again that this government has a habit of acting too little too late. The lack of action has put Australian lives in danger and half the country in lockdown. Australians are in lockdown, because this Prime Minister has bungled the vaccine rollout and has refused to deliver purpose-built regional quarantine that he is constitutionally responsible for.

Today the Queensland government has stepped in and done what the Prime Minister should have done months ago. They will be building a major regional quarantine hub at Wellcamp, just outside Toowoomba. Construction has kicked off today. If the Prime Minister had done his job many of the outbreaks and subsequent lockdowns that Queensland has faced may have never happened at all. I thank Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the Queensland government for doing what the Prime Minister should have done. This government needs to finish the vaccine rollout stronger than they started and they must deliver regional quarantine solutions to ensure Australians get out of lockdowns and stay out of lockdowns. It's time this Prime Minister stopped blaming everyone else and started doing his job.