Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister says the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is not a race. But it is. It's a race to beat this virus and the dangerous mutations leading to outbreaks across the world and close to home. When the rollout started in February, five months after the first vaccine deal was signed, there were very few details. Now we know why.

As a pharmacist and local MP, I'm increasingly concerned about the most vulnerable being exposed and at risk, and this risk is largely avoidable. Last week, the Commonwealth received 1.4 million vaccine doses but administered only just over 500,000.

When hospital hubs were announced, I was asked why the closest were at Hornsby or the John Hunter. In phase 1a, frontline health workers asked me why the hubs were at RPA, Westmead and Liverpool. When aged-care homes listed in week 1 were in West Gosford, Point Clare, Umina Beach and Woy Woy, families asked me, what about their family members living on the north of the coast? When a senior GP put through an EOI, supported by the PHN, for a mass vaccination clinic, and it wasn't supported by the federal government, he asked me why. When a medical centre was waiting weeks for vaccines, the practice manager contacted me, desperate, asking why. And when people with disability living in supported accommodation are still waiting, their families are asking why.

I've raised questions with Professor Brendan Murphy. I've written to Minister Hunt. I've written to Minister Hazzard. What my community needs is certainty, now. (Time expired)

See this speech in context