Fiona Martin (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion put forward by the member for Ryan on the COVID-19 vaccine. Securing a COVID-19 vaccine is critical to Australia's health and economic recovery. A vaccine will give Australian people and businesses the certainty and confidence they need to reopen the economy and our borders. That's why the Morrison government has ensured that we're ready for an expected rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine in 2021.

Our government is contributing significantly to research and development both in Australia and around the world, investing $363 million in vaccines, therapeutics and COVID medicines, including $257 million in vaccines. As an allied health professional, I have great respect for our scientists and those who work in the health and medical industries, especially with the pressures that this pandemic has created.

CSIRO, Australia's leading science agency, is playing an important part in the development and testing of a vaccine here in Australia. Our scientists and researchers have been doing incredible work, contributing on a global level to finding treatments and a vaccine to COVID-19. I'd like to acknowledge and thank them for their exceptional work.

Under the Morrison government's COVID-19 vaccine and treatment strategy, Australia has secured 134.8 million doses through advanced purchasing agreements. By securing multiple COVID-19 vaccines, we are giving Australians the best possible shot at early access to a vaccine, should trials prove successful. We have invested over $1.7 billion into our two lead vaccine candidates—the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and the University of Queensland's molecular clamp, which is being developed here in Australia.

These vaccines will largely be supplied through CSL, an Australian based company in Melbourne, who will facilitate the production of the vaccines here in Australia. This means we will be boosting manufacturing in Australia. In fact CSL has begun manufacturing the University of Oxford AstraZeneca's coronavirus candidate vaccine in Victoria, and this will mean that production is starting on approximately 30 million doses of the vaccine. It should be very reassuring to many of us that these vaccines are being produced by a trusted Australian supplier, one that has likely supplied many of our flu vaccines. This agreement shows where our government's priority lies: protecting the health of Australians and backing our economy by locally producing our vaccine supply. To strengthen our position further, the Morrison government has secured two more COVID-19 vaccine agreements. This takes the Australian government's total COVID-19 vaccine investment to more than $3.2 billion.

Our strategy puts Australia at the front of the queue if our medical experts give the vaccines the green light—and trials are proving to be very promising. It means that we're on track for first vaccines to be delivered in the first quarter of 2021, and they will be available for free to those who choose to be vaccinated. Health and aged-care workers as well as the elderly and vulnerable members of our community will be the first to gain access to the vaccine. When Australia has fulfilled our domestic vaccination plan, we will provide additional vaccines to regional partners in the Pacific and South-East Asia. This will allow for a shared recovery across our neighbours, which will not only play an important role in leading humanitarian aid but also mean that tourism and trade across our region can pick up sooner.

Australia has a world-class vaccination program with world-leading vaccination rates. The Morrison government has built on this capacity to secure a COVID-19 vaccine and treatment strategy. It places us in the best possible position to attain a safe and effective vaccine, a vaccine that will be manufactured locally in Australia and rolled out free of charge to all Australians who choose to be immunised. It's an essential part of our plan to protect the health of all Australians and recover from the COVID-19 recession.

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