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

I want to thank the member for Lindsay for her work and support for the community at this difficult and challenging time. It's a difficult and challenging time around the world. In the last 24 hours, there were 631,000 people diagnosed with COVID-19. There were 11,000 people who were recognised as having passed as a consequence of COVID-19. We are seeing a new wave driven by the delta strain around the world, even in many countries that have had very high vaccination rates.

What we have seen in Australia are the dual tasks of saving lives and livelihoods. It's been a difficult and challenging time, but what we have seen in the last 24 hours, in the last week and in the last month is Australians stepping forward to be vaccinated in record numbers. In the last 24 hours, there were 200,000 Australians who stepped forward to be vaccinated. In the last week, almost 1.2 million Australians stepped forward to be vaccinated. Last month, we saw approximately 4½ million Australians come forward to be vaccinated. Since this House last met, approximately 5½ million Australians have stepped forward to be vaccinated. These are enormous numbers and what they show is that as supply has been made available, as it's been distributed, we are seeing Australians step forward. And they are stepping forward for a simple reason: it can save their lives, it can save the lives of their loved ones and it can protect others in the community. That's the incentive: to save their lives and to save the lives of others. That's the great and serious business upon which we are embarked as a nation, and that is why now we see that, amongst our over 50s, there are 66 per cent of Australians who have had their first vaccination. Amongst our over 60s, it's now 73 per cent and, extraordinarily, already, for our over 70s, we are on the cusp of 80 per cent. Our first two jurisdictions, Tasmania and the ACT, are on the cusp of 50 per cent, with 48.8 per cent of vaccinations at this stage. So Australians are stepping forward, and for a simple reason. It's about saving their lives. It's about saving the lives of their friends and their families. It's about supporting their community—the highest and best reasons for which somebody could be vaccinated. That's why we're a great vaccination nation.

It's also why, when we look at what Peter Collignon said today about some alternative approach which could undermine forever vaccination in this nation—it is a bad idea. The idea that next year would you be paying another $3 billion for boosters, and the year after paying for boosters, and would you be paying— (Time expired)

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