Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The national plan is in place. The national plan has been agreed to by national cabinet. The national plan is working. The National Health Amendment (COVID-19) Bill 2021 is appropriate, it is timely and it is sensible; and, of course, it is a necessary medical and fiscal arrangement. This deal, this amendment, will ensure that the government can continue to purchase COVID-19 vaccinations, which are saving lives. It will include boosters. These vaccines will provide protections to Australians. Let's not forget that, when COVID-19 first came to these shores, there was a fear, and it was suggested, that up to 30,000 Australians could lose their lives. This government acted quickly and responsibly, and continues to do so. There's no manual that you can pull down from a shelf on this. It is a worldwide pandemic. We are certainly making the right arrangements, and this amendment continues that important work.

This bill will also allow for the purchase of consumables which are needed for the delivery of these vital vaccines and treatments. The cabinet, of course, will retain its role in the consideration of and decision on COVID-19 vaccinations, consumables and treatment purchases. This bill will give spending power to the Minister for Health and Aged Care to enter into arrangements and make payments to ensure that Australia can continue the vaccination rollout, because parliament doesn't and cannot sit all of the time. When parliament is not in session, it will enable the minister, the cabinet and the Prime Minister to make the right decisions at the necessary time.

Following a cabinet decision to purchase a relevant item, the minister for health—who I must say has been doing a sterling job all the way through. He has carried much of the burden of this nation, to making sure that the right decisions have been made and the right arrangements have been put in place. I commend him for that work. This amendment gives him the ability to exercise the spending power under this new provision. It ensures that payments will be made in a timely manner upon the execution of advance purchase agreements with vaccine manufacturers. Of course, that is so vitally important. Currently, funding is made available through appropriation bills, which are not frequent or flexible enough for the government to respond as necessary during what is a global pandemic, and so therefore this amendment is necessary.

Without this power, due to the timing of recent advance purchase agreements, the Department of Health would not have been able to make payments beyond January 2022, putting at risk the government's national plan to transition Australia's COVID-19 response. This will sunset on 30 June 2022. It's important, too, that it is sunsetted. The government in June 2022, if we're still requiring this, will then have to extend that. I do hope that that is a Liberal-Nationals government, I certainly do.

There are more than 9,000 points of presence for vaccinations across the nation. The president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Trent Twomey, told me this afternoon that 3,000 pharmacies had delivered 350,000 vaccinations. I want to thank those chemists right across this nation for the job that they're doing—equally, of course, with GPs and other health providers, but the pharmacies are doing a great job. This will ramp up in coming weeks as the Moderna vaccine rolls out in conjunction, of course, with AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines.

I also want to commend the work that is being done by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. I was pleased to have had an integral role when I was transport minister in arranging, with Federation Executive Director Frank Quinlan, for the RFDS—a tremendous organisation, one of our iconic organisations in this nation—to do their important work. It will continue to be part of the national pandemic response, working closely with the Commonwealth; importantly, Aboriginal medical services; primary health networks; local hospital districts; and state governments. Certainly for those people who live in regional and very much remote Australia, this is saving lives. What the RFDS will do and has already done has saved lives, and it will continue to do so.

I am saddened at the passing of father of 11 Gary Dunn of Dubbo, a Wiradjuri man, said to have been the first Indigenous Australian to die from COVID-19. That is very, very unfortunate. Of course, what we've seen in western New South Wales, and Wilcannia in particular, has been quite disturbing. We're certainly putting every measure in place to ensure that provisions are made possible for vaccination rates to be increased in those areas.

I also want to commend the work of Saul Resnick from DHL. He's the chief executive officer of that transport and logistics organisation. Already, since the rollout began, as far as that company is concerned, more than 49 million kilometres have been traversed across Australia. That is an amazing effort. They've been getting those vaccines out on time and on schedule, and well done to them.

Importantly, as I conclude my remarks, the Murrumbidgee Local Health District in my electorate has just announced four areas of concern after a potentially infectious essential worker visited Hay, Tooleybuc and West Wyalong. Of course, Temora had a scare at the weekend, with three exposure sites, but at least the results for those staff and the people who visited those particular sites came back as negative. Sewage trace element results will be in tomorrow and, hopefully, they will also prove negative. Superintendent Bob Noble has reported that 42 fines were issued for breaches of public health orders across the Riverina Police District.

I thank Australians for what they've done so far. I urge Australians to roll up their sleeves and get the jab. But it is also important to follow, as imposing as they are and as restrictive as they can be, those public health orders that have been put in place by states. They are necessary. They are keeping Australians alive. We need to do everything that we can for our friends, for our communities and for those strangers we may never even know but we do come into contact with if we do the wrong thing. We don't want to do the wrong thing. We want to make sure that our communities stay as safe as they can. I say to all Australians: stay positive, test negative.

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