Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this bill today in the midst of what all would agree is a public health crisis like we've never experienced. It is likely to be a defining time in the lives of many, many Australians. It is a time when we have seen governments, individuals, businesses and community groups all pull together to do what we can to slow the spread of COVID-19.

I stand today on behalf of the community of Dunkley, which has worked incredibly hard to do what we can to not only protect the health and welfare of vulnerable people in our community to stop the spread and deal with the health crisis but also to make sure that the social and economic needs of people aren't forgotten during this time.

The COVIDSafe app, which is the subject of the bill that we're discussing today, is but one measure in a suite of measures that have been and will continue to be really important to deal with this public health crisis. It is not a magic wand. It is not a silver bullet, but it is a very important addition to what we have done already and what we will continue to do.

I want to put on the record how amazing the community of Dunkley has been in stepping up to the plate and following the new and sometimes incredibly difficult social restrictions that we have had to live through. During the last six weeks or so, I have been inundated, as have my colleagues in this place, with queries and calls for help from constituents, many of whom have never contacted a politician before to ask for help, many of whom have experienced fear and anxiety that they'd never experienced before and many of whom have experienced economic stress that not only had they never experienced; they'd never dreamed they would experience it. No-one should say anything other than abiding by the social restrictions has been hard. It's been really hard. Even people who haven't lost their jobs who have got through this period so far, touch wood, without any health or other consequences, have found the distance from family and friends, and the lack of physical intimate contact with those around them in the community really hard to deal with. But we've done it in our community, as have many communities across Australia, because it was really important and continues to be important to save lives. I want to thank each and every person in my community of Dunkley who has done the hard yards in order to do what we can to be part of stopping the spread.

The COVIDSafe app is part of, as I said, a suite of measures that will continue to stop the spread. Labor has taken the approach from day one to be constructive and cooperative with the government, saying, 'We will support measures that are good—measures that help us to help the vulnerable, measures that help us to help our communities. And we won't stand in the way of things that need to be done.' But we're also not here to just wave things through or to say that the government has a blank cheque to do whatever they want. We are here to scrutinise measures. We are here to make constructive, positive suggestions. And that's what we've done with this legislation.

It could've been the case that there could've been a tracing app earlier. We're glad it's happened now. It could have been the case that some of the technical difficulties that are being experienced by people across Australia could have been dealt with before the app was launched. They weren't, but we're here to be constructive about fixing them.

In my opinion, it's not wise to tell Australians that this app is what will protect them from catching coronavirus. We know that there are many vulnerable people in the community who are struggling to use the app properly, whether it be because they are using android phones, which this app doesn't work on, because they're older and don't understand or aren't capable of manipulating the technology, or because they are good, decent Australians who are sceptical about the government because of the actions of this government and others over many years that have eroded their trust. These are the things that the government needs to continue to address to make sure that as many Australians as possible not only download this app and feel confident in using it but also continue to do the other things that need to be done to deal with the public health crisis. It cannot be the case that people hear messages from the Prime Minister and others about this app being what's needed to get the economy back to recovery, or this app being what's needed to stop the spread and that if they have an app on their phone they're immune and they don't need to follow the other rules. That's not the case. We still have a lot of hard work to do socially, in the health area and in the economy, and this app is a part of it.

Like many people in this place, I have downloaded the app, but I understand people who are sceptical and who are anxious about their privacy. I understand people who are concerned about data being stored by international companies. I understand people who are concerned about whether other countries might be able to access their data. I understand people who are concerned about technical problems. I don't put these concerns forward as reasons not to use the app; I put them forward to say that there is more work to be done by this parliament and this government to make sure that Australians genuinely buy into this very important measure. But it is only part of a suite of measures. I'm part of an opposition that is supporting these public health measures but that is making sure that we say, every step along the way: it's not set and forget. It's not the case that we can blithely tell people: this is what you need to do, and you'll be alright. We need to take the Australian public with us, and we need to scrutinise, at all times, how well the rollout of the technology is occurring. I'm one of those Australians that looks at the history of technology that has been rolled out by this government and says that there are reasons to be concerned. We have to make sure that this is not one of those technological disasters. It won't be if we all continue to work constructively, but we also need to do our jobs and identify problems and how to fix them.

I also want to say to my community of Dunkley: we will get through this and we will get through it together. 'Getting through it together' is not just a slogan to us. Politicians can stand up and say those words over and over again, but it means nothing without the community's buy-in and it means nothing without governments putting forward packages to help us get through it together. We will continue to support each other. We will continue to fight whatever crisis comes forward. But we won't do it with blithe slogans. We'll do it with actual plans and actual community connectedness.

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