Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about Clive Raymond Toomey and his family. Clive passed away on 26 September due to COVID. He was only 43, and his funeral was in Dubbo on 29 October. He was a dearly loved husband of Anna; a much-loved father of Clive, Monique, Jasmin and Lachlan; and a grandfather. I visited and spoke with the family last Monday. They were kind and gracious and gave me a mask with Clive's initials on it, which I am wearing here in the parliament today and all this week.

Clive's family had to fight to be able to see their husband and father in hospital for the last time and to say goodbye after he passed. The government promised Indigenous people would be vaccinated first, but that did not happen. Clive was unvaccinated, but not by choice. The vaccines his community were to have were diverted away. Clive's family are strong. They took every step they could to get vaccinated. This government let Clive and his family down, just as it has let down communities around this country. Goodbye, Clive, a highly respected man in the western part of New South Wales.

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