Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question, and I thank her for the great work that she has done in her local community, in the electorate of Moncrieff on the Gold Coast, throughout the pandemic, where she has supported individuals, families and communities through this particularly difficult time. And, of course, she has provided great support to our businesses.

At the start of the pandemic, our government acted very decisively on our international borders. Without a doubt, this has helped to spare us from the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we now face a significant challenge: the delta variant is one of the most significant challenges that we have had to face during this pandemic, not just here in Australia but right across the world. As we ramp up our vaccine delivery, we know that we have to remain vigilant. So while COVID-19 has certainly challenged all of us, Australia's travel exemption regime has kept us safe from widespread COVID transmission and that's why our borders remain effectively closed. That being said, we can't seal ourselves off from the rest of the world. We need to bring vaccines in, we need to keep our postal links and our cargo links open, and we need skilled workers. We need those skilled workers to support our industries here in Australia. We know that, whilst we have many skilled workers here, we still need to look at bringing more skilled workers in to supplement that workforce.

I want to take this opportunity now to thank the Australian Border Force for the great work they have done, day after day. They have been particularly efficient at ensuring the vital supplies like our Pfizer vaccines are expedited. This has ensured that we have been able to ramp up the delivery of our vaccine strategy, with more than a million doses now being given every week. On several days last week, there were record numbers of vaccinations.

Our four-stage plan, our national plan, has set out a pathway back to normal life. We want to make sure that Australians are able to travel as freely as they possibly can, and work is now well underway, with the Australian Border Force, with the Australian Federal Police, and supported by many of our industries right across Australia, to make sure when it is appropriate and it is safe for us to open our borders we will be in a position to do so. I do thank those who have worked so hard during this pandemic to get us to the position where we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we are working towards that.

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