Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to respond on behalf of the government. Firstly, I acknowledge that for Victorians this is a difficult day. They have been through the challenges which followed the Victorian second wave. My family, other families, residents, constituents, friends—all Victorians—we all lived with and witnessed those challenges which followed that second wave. The sources are well-known and well-understood. Again, Victorians are having a difficult time and I express my deep and profound support for them. Our support as a government is strong and clear. We have provided an additional 130,000 vaccines on top of the 666,000 which have been provided to the state, of which 398,000 have been administered. We have ensured, as I mentioned in question time, that the hotspot definition has been triggered by the Chief Medical Officer, which then leads to payments in aged care and leads to asymptomatic testing being made available through the Commonwealth GP respiratory clinics. We have stood up the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre. We have offered contact tracing support through the national incident centre. We realise that these are deeply regrettable decisions that have been taken today in Victoria, but, given the particular circumstances in that state—in our state, in my state—they are nevertheless necessary.

Having said that, the context for all of this is a world in which the global pandemic has seen more cases this year already than last year. In the last 24 hours, there have been 557,000 cases and 12,000 lives lost. We're not immune in that circumstance, but we have been remarkably protected to date—94 days without community transmission in Australia. The thing which has prevented that, the thing which has exclusively prevented that occurring, has been the border protection. The other measures then stop the spread of community transmission once it occurs. But what has prevented it is the quarantine system in Australia, arguably the most effective quarantine system in the world. It's the first line of defence, not the last. It's the first of many rings of containment.

We have seen a new position adopted today, I would say, by the opposition—a presumption that a state can be immune from the virus. That is not an accurate position. Every country is at risk wherever it deals with other countries. Perhaps the most easily understood case in point is the New Zealand airport worker who was twice vaccinated, was wearing full PPE and acted with all the appropriate behaviours and protocols and nevertheless contracted the virus. What that shows is that the virus is by its nature an almost uniquely contagious virus, as we see in a pandemic. That is what has led to the global pandemic.

There's a global pandemic, but in Australia we've been in a vastly different position. Nevertheless, having said that, every day we fight to make sure that we are protecting Australians. In terms of quarantine, we put in place a system which I think almost any other country in the world would embrace, but every day we push for it to be stronger. That's why we had the Halton review. That's why we've endorsed the measures that have been put in place.

I would note in particular, in response to the shadow minister's comments, that the Prime Minister and I met with the president and the deputy president of the AMA. The deputy president of the AMA may well be known to the shadow minister—Dr Chris Moy, an esteemed Australian GP. He said, of the facility in South Australia, it's an outstanding facility, outstandingly run. There were no obvious breaches of protocols. Everything that could have been done, to his understanding, was done. But we recognise that, with a highly contagious disease, human interaction with those who come from overseas creates the possibility.

What the opposition has been talking about are some very odd proposals—proposals to put Australians in remote areas, which would mean flying a workforce in and out; proposals which would mean that we would have to be transporting patients who are positive precisely—

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

No, no—

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