Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, what an MPI debate point! Honestly? I think it's quite extraordinary that those opposite don't realise that this is a moment in our nation's history when it's about team Australia. We've just watched the Olympics. We've just watched how Olympians have dealt with a really tough COVID period and how they have pivoted and worked hard to deliver some fantastic outcomes that Australians can be proud of. Now is the moment for us to work together, to understand that this COVID pandemic has been extraordinary. I don't think anyone would question that the whole world has been dealing with a crisis. It's been a global pandemic, a global crisis.

We heard the previous member saying, 'Oh, not good enough.' It's very easy to be backseat drivers when you don't actually know what's going on. You are obviously not listening to what the Prime Minister has been saying day after day and in press conferences, and the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, has been out there. They've been listening to experts. They've been listening to evidence-informed advice. They're in meetings day after day, sweating the decisions that are leading us through the carnage and chaos that is this COVID global pandemic. And I would like to hear from those on that side—please, tell your supporters—'Go and get vaccinated,' because, honestly, you don't ask which flu vaccine brand you're looking at. As the Victorian vice-president of the AMA, Chris Moy, said: when there's an emergency you don't ask what brand the seatbelt is, or the brand of the emergency life belt; you just put it on. At this point in time, it's time for team Australia to stand up and get behind the vaccine rollout.

There is absolutely no question that there have been issues. In fact, I remember that in January Professor John Skerritt briefed the coalition members—he also briefed the opposition—and said, 'We know it's going to be messy.' That is because COVID is messy. That is because this is a new vaccine that no-one has had to deal with before. This is a new technology, and we need people to get behind it with their confidence, their certainty and their leadership. I implore those opposite: put aside your petty politics and get behind the vaccination rollout, because people are hesitant; there is no doubt about that. People are nervous. That is understandable, because in the first five months of this year there were no COVID deaths. I'll just say that again: in the first five months of this year, there were no COVID deaths. Now, that wasn't sheer luck. That was good, certain, stable, strategic decision-making by a calm, confident executive government—one that all Australians should feel proud of. That outcome was delivered by each and every Australian—doing the right thing, listening to the quarantining measures, following up through the contact tracing recommendations by the public health experts and then doing their bit with physical distancing, mask wearing and hand hygiene. Now the fourth layer of our safety measures has come online, at speed, and that is the vaccine rollout.

We need every Australian to get behind the vaccine rollout, and on both sides of this parliament we need people to get behind the vaccine rollout, so that there's not a concern such as: 'There's something going on. We don't know what it is, but people are playing politics, so we'll just leave it. We won't make that decision.' We want people to go and see their GP and work out whether they're eligible. Go to www. hotdoc, and that will let you know how you can find out which GP has a supply and understand that both Pfizer and AstraZeneca are helping to deliver a great outcome for Australia.

We know that the national plan, which has been agreed across political lines between the national, state and territory governments in national cabinet, is delivering a plan, which is that once we get 70 per cent of the adult Australian population double-jabbed with one of the vaccines then we will know that we are going to be able to put lockdowns into a different category. There won't need to be the suffering that everyone is having to deal with. It's a terrible situation with the delta variant, but we need to work together.

I just want to say something about quarantining. No-one opposite said that we should decommission hotel quarantining. I want to say that 350,000 people have successfully come back through hotel quarantining. There have been 3,500 positive COVID cases. We have continued, through federal government support of the states, to improve the quality of quarantining, which is something that's had to be stood up at speed. But there have been fewer than 20 outbreaks from quarantining. That is actually an incredible outcome when you consider how many positive cases there were. And I would say that some of the improvements have come through frequent rapid antigen testing. (Time expired)

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