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

All of these things come together—and I hear the member for McEwen say 'rubbish'. Those are the facts in terms of the number of facilities which have been vaccinated. So, when we bring all of these things together, we know that Australia is in a situation that the vast bulk of countries in the world can only wish they were in—that is, of having achieved the twin goals of saving lives and protecting livelihoods. We've done that through all the elements that have allowed us as a nation to achieve things which the rest of the world looks upon with a degree of amazement and, in so many cases, with a desire to be in a similar place.

I go back to where I began. Only yesterday, around the world 406,000 people officially contracted COVID-19 and, agonisingly, over 9,600 lives were lost. Over the course of this year, over 2,080,000 lives have been lost. Yet, as a nation, we are in a position where no person has lost their life to COVID caught in Australia this year. That is one of the most extraordinary national achievements in our peacetime history. At the same time we are also seeing the recovery of jobs, with 8.7 per cent growth in GDP over the last three quarters, unemployment down to 5.1 per cent and more people in employment now than were in employment prior to the pandemic. So this nation, together, has achieved outcomes that have saved lives and saved livelihoods. We thank all Australians for playing their part.

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