Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

You just saw from the member for Watson and from the Leader of the Opposition that there is huge anger on this side, anger that is represented in communities across this country, because in the last 18 months all of the huge work that communities, healthcare workers, cleaners and transport workers across this country did—heroes of the Australian people, keeping us safe—has been squandered by this stupid, stupid, foolish government that could not do its job. If you want to see the impact of this government's, the Morrison-Joyce government's, absolute failures and the absolutely useless way in which it has handled this pandemic, you just have to look at what is happening around this country at the moment.

We have Sydney in extended lockdown, with another 345 cases today and, tragically, another two people losing their lives. We have Melbourne in lockdown for at least another week, trying to stamp out the embers of a virus spread as we fight to drive up vaccination rates. We've got regional Victoria only just out of lockdown—but only just, and we're pretty nervous about what the future will bring. Queenslanders are in masks, with cases from their latest outbreak still bubbling away—luckily in quarantine. South Australia is imposing a second round of quarantine on returning athletes, fearful of what an outbreak of the delta variant will mean in that community. And more recently we have seen the ACT go back in lockdown, after a full year without any cases. To quote the ACT Chief Minister:

This is by far the most serious public health risk the ACT has faced in the past 12 months …

We are now more than 18 months into this pandemic, but things are as bad as they have ever been. Australians went through so much last year to beat back this virus, to achieve some of the best health and economic outcomes in the world—but for what? Australians deserve better than this.

The Prime Minister had two jobs—to roll out the vaccine and to properly fix quarantine. It is frustrating, it is infuriating and it is devastating to see where we are today. It's devastating for families, and particularly for our children who are thrown in and out of homeschooling. It's devastating for the businesses who have no certainty on when their doors can open, or how long they will be open for. It's devastating for families separated from loved ones overseas or interstate. It's devastating for young people missing out on their formative years, and for older Australians unable to share some of their last valuable time with the people that they love. It is devastating for the workers excluded from the economic support that they need. And, of course, it is devastating for those who get seriously ill, those who have to rely on ventilators just to breathe and those who lose their lives.

We cannot lose sight of the human cost of this pandemic and the human cost of the Morrison-Joyce government's failures. Real leadership and real leaders step up in good times and in bad. Not this Prime Minister. It's not his job. He's not to blame; he doesn't hold a hose; it's the state's job. He didn't order enough vaccines to keep us safe, but he blames other nations for getting in first. He said it's not a race, but then he blames Brendan Murphy for saying that originally, apparently. He failed to vaccinate aged-care workers by Easter, but he says it's their fault because they didn't go to the GP for a jab. He promised four million Australians they'd be vaccinated by March. He managed only 600,000, but that isn't his fault. There have been 27 outbreaks in quarantine—not his responsibility, even though quarantine is explicitly in the Constitution as a Commonwealth responsibility.

More than 600 Australians have died from COVID in aged-care facilities, which is a federal responsibility, but the Prime Minister says that was the states' fault. Vaccine hesitation? That's ATAGI's fault. Lockdowns in Victoria? Daniel Andrews is responsible for that, although I know the member for Higgins said it was 'just like the flu' and they should open a little bit earlier. The failure to lockdown Sydney early enough? The Premier is responsible, even though the Prime Minister egged her on to not lock down. Then we have the members for Dawson and Hughes and Senators Canavan and Rennick actively undermining public health, but he says, 'Free speech is perfectly okay.' That's what we have from this Prime Minister. When something goes well, he can't get there quick enough to get his photo-op. But, when something goes wrong, he spins, he deflects and he does not tell the truth. This Prime Minister is clearly not up to the job. It's time he stepped up, but, if he doesn't, he should get out of the way. The Australian people should vote him out at the next election. (Time expired)

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