Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with pride that this government has actually been extremely accountable for the actions that we have taken. In fact, I believe that everybody in this House can feel proud of what they are doing in their own local constituency. I know that because I know so many members on the other side of this House are reaching out to ministers, to people in our government, to seek assistance for members of their electorates. That's because in this country we have a very fine democracy, and that democracy means we have accountability and we deliver for the people of Australia.

I don't think anyone could really question that the Morrison government has delivered an incredible outcome with regard to our health response to the COVID pandemic. If you look at the actual facts, when you talk about responsibility and being accountable, let's look at the deaths from COVID. The death rate per 100,000 in Australia is 1.2. What is the death rate in Canada? It is a similar sized country, it is a similar public-private balanced country. It is not 1.2 per 100,000, it is 23.8 per 100,000. What about the UK? It is 69 per 100,000. Ours is just one. That is because Australia has had a firm pair of capable hands, a strong executive and a wonderful government that has delivered on a health outcome that has dodged an incredible bullet, which is the COVID pandemic. There are some people who might say that that was just a matter of luck. The government was just sitting on its hands and watching this pandemic unfold in front of its very eyes. But, in fact, I'm really sorry to tell the members on the other side that actions speak louder than words.

Let's start with what we have done. We closed our international borders on 1 February. We then swiftly implemented social distancing and engaged in rapid testing. We have actually supplied more than 5.5 million tests to the states and territories to deliver. We built the COVIDSafe app, which is being used very well in New South Wales. In fact, it has had a higher uptake than in every other country that has had a similar program—seven million Australians. This is the first time something like this has ever been piloted. It works because the way that you do manual tracking is to identify who it is that you've been in contact with. The technology of the COVIDSafe app allows your phone to know, in a de-identified way, when you have been in contact with someone else. It is the first time it's been piloted here in Australia, and seven million Australians have taken it up.

We've also rapidly increased our intensive care capacity from 2,200 beds to 7,500 beds. So a lot of work has been going on, including improved communication to ensure that our culturally and linguistically diverse communities are getting the message about how to act safely in a COVID pandemic.

We have also invested incredibly in telehealth, which has been very important to ensuring that our frontline workers are kept safer and that people in the community can get access to health care without having to go to see their doctor in person. That is saving lives, as we speak.

Lastly, from the health perspective, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars—more than $300 million—into vaccine development. There are three current trials here in Australia and we are also in negotiations with trials overseas. That's very important, because what the vaccine offers is hope to the Australian people.

But in my fair state of Victoria, unfortunately, we can see evidence where delivery of services has not occurred to the standard that we require here in Australia—the quarantining fiasco, the track and trace fiasco and, unfortunately, we have that very serious community transmission outbreak. But the federal government isn't about laying blame; it's about doing something to serve the people of Victoria and that includes a significant number of Victorian targeted outcomes.

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