Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] This morning the residents of Fraser received the news that the current lockdown will be extended by seven days. Just before giving this speech, while at the shops next to my office, I spoke to small business owners who are in despair. This extension is necessary, but what makes all of the social and economic costs that will follow from it all the more frustrating and unfortunate for my community is that it was so avoidable.

The Prime Minister had two jobs: a robust quarantine system and a rapid vaccine rollout. He has failed at both. Let's be clear: Australia has experienced 27 leaks from hotel quarantine. This number is far higher than it should have been. The Prime Minister says that hotel quarantine is working, but that's not what the international health experts say; they say it's not fit for purpose. It's not what the Halton report said in October of last year, and it's not supported by a study which showed that for every 204 infected people in hotel quarantine there was one leak, one risk of an outbreak.

We've had zero breaches from Howard Springs, where so many of our returning Olympians are in quarantine. Why aren't such facilities handling all arrivals? Because the government didn't heed the warnings of the medical experts and because it didn't take notice of the Halton report. Instead, it has waited for state governments to approach it with proposals. The people of Fraser and the people of Australia deserve leadership and hope. They are getting neither from this Prime Minister.

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