Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Late is better than never. Something is better than nothing. But why does it always take this Prime Minister so long to do so little? He's just announced a payment for people who can't work—people like Gina in my community whose cafe has been shut down and who is paying her staff out of her own pocket, even though they can't work because of the COVID lockdown. As a Victorian, I say thank you to all of my colleagues who have fought so hard to bring the Prime Minister to this place. As a member of the Labor Party, I say thank you so much to all of my colleagues outside of Victoria who have fought so hard to bring the Prime Minister to this place. I say thank you to the Victorian government that has fought so hard to bring the Prime Minister to this place. And, most importantly, I stand here to say thank you so much to my community who are strong and are proud and are looking after each other, and who have raised their voices to bring the Prime Minister to this place. The Prime Minister said we shouldn't be fearing this virus. I've got a message for you, Prime Minister: until you roll out the vaccine properly and you have fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities in this country, people do need to fear this virus, and you need to do better.

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