Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party, Assistant Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Over the past 18 months, Australia has been challenged like never before. A once-in-a-century global pandemic has inflicted carnage all across the world, and the impacts have been profound—on families, on children, on the elderly and on business. This virus has meant that consequences have been felt across every corner of our society. There is no doubt that the effect of lockdowns, interstate border closures, and financial and mental health pressures continue to be profound. Unfortunately, COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in the lives of millions of Australians.

However, despite these enormous difficulties, I'm so proud of what we have achieved together so far as a nation. Australians have stood together. We have looked out for each other and we have followed the health advice. As a federal government our focus has always been on suppressing the virus, rolling out the vaccine, securing our economic recovery, protecting jobs and guaranteeing the essential services that Australians rely on. During what is a very difficult time in our nation's history, I'm proud that the Morrison government has stepped up and delivered on each of these fronts.

Our delivery of the vaccine rollout is kicking up and hitting its stride. Over 14 million vaccine doses have now been administered, and we now are hitting over 1.3 million doses each week. Just think about that—the population of Adelaide vaccinated in a single week. This is an absolutely wonderful effort. On that note, I want to express my thanks and appreciation to all our health workers across the nation, who are the front line, delivering the doses every single day and putting in enormous hours to keep us safe. In July, a total of 4.5 million vaccinations were given, which is more than double that achieved in May, when 2.1 million doses were done. Sure, we've had our problems. Indeed, no country on earth has gotten their response perfectly right. But what is most important is that we have turned the corner, and I must say that we have also got a lot of things right.

Our government's response, our measures and our support packages in this global pandemic have saved more than 30,000 lives. Our government has supported over three million Australians through JobKeeper and has also ensured that one million Australians have gotten back into work. Importantly, one of the earliest and most decisive measures that we took as a government was to close our international border. There is no doubt in my mind that the Prime Minister's strong leadership on this has saved many, many lives.

As the federal member for Capricornia, I saw firsthand how Central Queensland was impacted by the virus. I wanted to take this opportunity today to highlight what a tremendous difference our government support measures secured on the ground. One example was JobKeeper. Last year there were 1,828 businesses in the Rockhampton area who relied on this crucial program to pay their staff; and, in Yeppoon, 580. As one local businessman in Rockhampton told me, in just one week in March last year he had more than $1 million in forward bookings cancelled. He was very concerned for his staff, who are loyal, decent, hardworking people. What I'm so pleased about is that the financial support delivered by JobKeeper allowed him to keep his staff actively engaged in the business.

As another local example, our $94 million zoos and aquariums program also provided crucially important assistance with animal welfare costs. As members would know, these businesses are heavily reliant on international visitors. Although domestic tourism is recovering, zoos and aquariums continue to experience reduced revenue streams as domestic visitors spend less money and don't visit mid-week and between school and public holidays. The Rockhampton Zoo, Cooberrie Park Wildlife Sanctuary and Koorana Crocodile Farm all received funding, and we're very grateful for the support provided by the federal government.

Despite the challenges, the people of Australia can be assured that the Morrison government remains firmly committed to securing our nation's recovery out of this global pandemic.

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