Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

And those opposite might mock, but this is what Australians have achieved. More than 30,000 lives saved, working with our industry and businesses, JobKeeper COVID supplements, cashflow bonus and now the COVID disaster payment. Australians have been carrying Australians through this crisis, and they have had the great support of their governments at unprecedented levels—working each and every day as 'team Australia' to get this as right as we possibly can.

One of the key things we have done throughout this is we have been informed by the best possible medical advice and by the best medical advisers in the world. Whether it be the Therapeutic Goods Administration, whether it be our Chief Medical Officer, whether it be the expert medical panel: all of these people and organisations have been informing us. These groups have been meeting on an almost daily basis for 18 months, and my government, and the governments around this country, have listened carefully, taken that advice and acted accordingly. And Australia, together, has saved lives and saved livelihoods.

That is what we've done, and that's why my government does not support misinformation in any way, shape or form. We do not. That is not the position of the government. My government will not support those statements where there is misinformation that is out and about in the community, whether it's posted on Facebook or in social media or it's written in articles or statements made in this chamber or anywhere else.

But what I'm not going to do is engage in a partisan debate on this. I'm not, because what I know is that Australians aren't interested in the politics of COVID. They're not interested in the noise of COVID and they're not interested in the shouting of COVID. What they're interested in is that we make our Australian way through this crisis. And I'll tell you what: our Australian way through this crisis has stood tall in the world. Australia's role in this crisis has stood tall in the world—whether it's Bill Gates or others who have looked at what has happened around the world and have said that Australia has stood out. Now, we haven't got everything right, but where we haven't, I tell you we've applied ourselves to address those problems, to fix those problems and to get it right. It doesn't matter how you start the race; it's how you finish the race. It's how you finish the race—

Opposition members interjecting—

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