Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Chisholm for her leadership in her community over what has been a very difficult year for all communities represented here in this place. As I have remarked on many occasions, back at the start of this year when the virus was first emerging out of China many returning Australians from China to Australia, through their actions in isolating—after we moved quickly to shut the borders and only allow residents returning to Australia—her community, did so much to protect Australia from that first wave of COVID-19 here in Australia that we owe them a great debt. To the member for Chisholm I thank her for her strong leadership working with her community to ensure that they were encouraged and supported during that time, and that continues to this day, because our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the COVID-19 recession that has followed, is to ensure that Australians have been getting the right support when it comes to their health needs—definitely. There's been unprecedented investment to support the health response to COVID-19.

But the response to support Australians both to cushion the blow of the COVID-19 recession and then, through this budget and measures that were introduced before this budget, to ensure that we had a strong plan for recovery out of the COVID-19 recession and to build for the future is seeing Australians get back into work. It's seeing businesses reopen again. It's seeing Australians find that hope they've been searching for that is so critical at times like this. The response to the budget has given Australians hope, we've seen a confidence rebound, but there is still much further to go. The national cabinet will meet tomorrow. It will be our 30th meeting this year. I want to thank the premiers and chief ministers for the way they have worked together with the Commonwealth over these many months. There have been disagreements from time to time, but the work has continued and there is so much more to do as we continue to ensure that Australia moves forward.

We can't stay still when it comes to our response to COVID-19. We must continue to move forward, whether it is on the health front or the economic front, on the support that is provided to help Australians through—in particular, Victorians, who have gone through the hardest of it over these many months. We need to move forward and we need to safely reopen Australia. Some months ago we talked about the need to get Australia open again by Christmas, and we remain committed to that goal. I thank the premiers and chief ministers, who are sharing that commitment to ensure Australians can go into 2021 with great confidence, with a strong working partnership at all levels of government in this country.

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