Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also want to make a contribution to the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021, and, in doing so, indicate that the passage of this bill will be supported by my colleagues on this side of the House. We understand that what's contained in the bill is needed. It's needed urgently to support the affected communities, particularly those in Sydney and Brisbane who have been recently dragged into another series of lockdowns by the incompetence of this government. The government's failures are certainly large and wide when it comes down to this pandemic. Let's be clear: the only reason this bill is needed is that the government has had many failures. It's failed to bring this pandemic under control and to guide Australians out of uncertainty. What Australians need most is certainty, not continued policy changes that are simply made on the run.

This is a bill that is nothing more than a clear admission of the government's failures. Whether it be the vaccine rollout, the hotel quarantine or cutting off JobKeeper in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, the Morrison government has failed Australian businesses and Australian workers and, more importantly, their families. The bill in essence implements a number of administrative arrangements for financial support for communities recently locked down—communities such as mine in south-western Sydney—that are really feeling the pressure of this extended and harsh lockdown as it's applying throughout many areas of Sydney at the moment, particularly Western Sydney. Not only has this lockdown had a significant economic impact on our communities but, as you would appreciate, it has had dire consequences for the mental health of many. Certainly, some are suffering more than others. I know this because, like many on both sides of the House, I have had to listen to discussions time and time again over recent weeks by many individuals and businesses across our respective communities, but particularly regarding what has occurred in the last six weeks in south-western Sydney.

My electorate of Fowler, as most people in this place would understand, has significant pockets of disadvantage. As a matter of fact, the average household income in my electorate is just a little over $60,000. On top of that, we have very clear issues about affordable housing. Research conducted by the University of New South Wales shows almost half my electorate is living in rental stress. I'm painting a picture—mine is not a rich community. This pandemic and these lockdowns have only exacerbated these issues in my community, with individuals and families struggling to put food on the table, struggling to pay the rent and in certain cases struggling to fulfil their minimum obligations in respect to mortgages. I know these families are struggling. I know from talking with my own children and their families. I know the struggles that families are going through in terms of homeschooling, working from home and looking after households.

Last week, I was talking to a teacher in our community in Fowler. Her name is Raina. Raina wanted me to understand what she and others were going through. I pointed out to her that I think I do have an understanding. Like her, my daughter is a high-school teacher in Western Sydney. But Raina wanted to tell me about the effects on her and her family through this lockdown. She's a teacher. She is expected to conduct classes online for her pupils while ensuring that her own children—one of which has special needs—are being looked after, and she's helping attend to her husband's business as well. This was just one conversation, but it certainly emphasises many of the issues raised by local residents at the moment. Furthermore, while the stability of working from home and people being able to gain and maintain an income has certainly been of assistance during this pandemic, the reality is that it's just not possible in my electorate for many people because of the nature of their employment.

My community has a significant number of people who are employed in manufacturing, construction and the trades—all areas which have been at a standstill across this pandemic. I know that because two of my sons are both tradesmen working in construction. I know the impact that it's had on them because they can't travel more than five kilometres from their homes as it is. I don't have a rich electorate, but I don't have much construction going on in my electorate either. Our tradesmen, who come from Western Sydney, travel throughout Sydney to attend major building sites.

I don't think we should forget the ramifications that this pandemic is having on businesses, particularly the small businesses. If there is any growing type of employment in my area it would be in terms of very small businesses, many of them home based businesses maybe employing one or two people. But we're seeing a number of these smaller businesses now closing down, with the very real likelihood that they won't reopen—they won't survive this series of lockdowns.

For a nation that, I have to say, was doing relatively well—significantly well, even—throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and in the way that it controlled things at the time, I have to say that what we're seeing now simply highlights that, in the most part, the efforts in controlling it were the efforts of our people. That's whether it was social distancing, the way we interact with one another or even with us now saying, 'Please stay at home.' Let's face it: throughout these last 18 months the Prime Minister only had two fundamental jobs—two jobs, and both have been botched. The lockdowns that have been made necessary now were simply because of the Prime Minister's failure on vaccines and quarantine. This is costing our economy something in the vicinity of $300 million each day. The economy is bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars—billions of dollars each week—and the Prime Minister simply hasn't been able to do his job. The price for this incompetence is being paid by people in our communities—by people in my community. These are people like Raina, her husband and her family.

Clearly, Scott Morrison's failures on the vaccines and quarantine are putting lives, jobs, the economy and its recovery at risk. We need a plan—a plan that's going to get us through these times and not a plan that's simply focused on the snap, harsh lockdowns that we see in our communities in Sydney at the moment. It should be a plan focused on an effective vaccine rollout and a proper quarantine situation. I know that the Prime Minister made it very clear in a series of interviews that this is not a race. I'm glad we don't say things like that to our athletes over in Tokyo at the moment! Of course it's a race, and a race we want to win, because in winning this we protect our people. But this is the race that we're not winning at the moment. As a matter of fact, we're not even at the starting blocks.

Various health experts and medical professionals are all telling us that our only pathway out of this pandemic is an effective vaccine rollout system. The Prime Minister simply has to get on with the job. On quarantine: we have a government about whose incompetence in hotel quarantine I have to say to—in fairness—that hotels are built for tourists. They're not built as quarantine centres. We've had 27 COVID leaks from hotel quarantine, numerous lockdowns and families separated from loved ones, so you'd think the government would have worked out by now that, instead of looking at tourist facilities for quarantine purposes, we need a dedicated quarantine system. We have one in Howard Springs. It has taken those opposite 18 months even to start talking to the Victorian Labor government about constructing a quarantine facility there. This has to be evidence that the vaccine rollout and hotel quarantine failures have simply let Australians down. Quite frankly, this sees the only option for many of us being these snap and harsh lockdowns which we're currently experiencing.

For my community in south-west Sydney, the lockdown is certainly having a detrimental impact on individuals, families and businesses, and that's why this legislation, which gives financial support—to help clean up the government's mess—is very much needed. I know it's needed in my community. Unlike this government, we, on this side, have a four-point plan. They may not like it, but I will go through it very briefly. We want purpose-built quarantine facilities. We want to fix the vaccine rollout. The government might want to call it a 'cash splash', or words to that effect, but we want to incentivise the rollout so that people put aside their hesitancy and actually go out and get vaccinated, because we know that the key to escaping harsh lockdowns is a properly vaccinated community. We also want to build the manufacturing capacity to secure the delivery of mRNA vaccines and to make them here in this country to serve our people. We want to deliver a targeted, thoughtful and motivating media campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated, not simply seeing someone's rolled-up sleeve and a bandaid on their shoulder. I don't think that's going to motivate too many people, at least as I see it.

With all that I have said—and we will continue to hold the government to account for their handling of this pandemic—I, nevertheless, commend the passage of this bill. I know it supports the people in my community who are in desperate need of financial assistance at the moment and the many others across the country who are experiencing the effects of these lockdowns at the moment. I support the passage of the bill.

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