Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak in support of the motion moved by the member for Macarthur. He's somebody who's spent his life making sure Australian kids get the best start in life. As a paediatrician for over 37 years, the member for Macarthur knows a thing or two about keeping people healthy, so I thank the member for Macarthur for moving this important motion that recognises the significant impact that COVID-19 continues to have on the day-to-day lives of ordinary Australians. It also recognises that the Morrison government has demonstrably failed in preparing the nation for these COVID-19 times. I know the impact that COVID-19 is having on people in Moreton, and what's become clear to me is that the pummelling isn't being felt evenly across my communities.

We've all been let down by the Morrison government's failure to prepare, failure to plan and rabid failure to take responsibility. But for some people these failures have had huge impacts on their lives, especially those in multigenerational households. If you're unable to isolate, everyone under the same roof will get sick. Casual workers who get sick or need to isolate have no income to buy food for their families, and when they get better they can't access a rapid antigen test to ascertain if they can actually return to work safely. It's been especially hard for single parents. Some permanent employees who've been infected have had no leave available and have had to take time off to recover with no pay. Many people were not eligible to get pandemic leave disaster payment. Older people have found it really tough. Many are too afraid to leave their houses. They're staying at home, not helping local businesses in terms of spending, not getting any exercise and getting lonelier day by day.

Australia was in a good place to prepare for this pandemic. Our island nation is isolated from the world. That bought us time, but the precious preparation time gifted to us by our geography was wasted by the coalition government. The Morrison government didn't properly prepare. They didn't adequately plan, and they fobbed off every responsibility they could, firstly, to the states and territories and, secondly, to everyday Australians. We should have had access to vaccines earlier, but the Morrison government didn't properly plan and didn't pick up the phone. Australians should have had access to rapid antigen tests—so that businesses could continue to operate, so that truck drivers could actually deliver food to shops and so that families could visit loved ones safely—but that didn't happen, because the Morrison government again failed to plan.

The Prime Minister has made an art form of ignoring good advice provided by experts, and many of our most vulnerable older Australians have been locked in their rooms in aged-care facilities. They're soiled, desperate and many of them are infected with COVID-19. It is a horror show. Hundreds have died—our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbours and loved family members. Just this year—and it's only February; it's Valentine's Day—681 older Australians have already died from COVID-19 in aged care.

What has the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services been doing while aged-care facilities have been in crisis? He went to the cricket—not for a day, but for three days. This is the minister who said in early February that the aged-care sector was doing 'extremely well'. What is he smoking? Just last week we had 1,700 Australian Defence Force personnel launched into the aged-care sector. That's a full-blown Cyclone Tracy meets Cyclone Yasi-type crisis. Six hundred and eighty-one Australians are dead. The Leading Age Services Australia CEO, Sean Rooney, said last week:

… there is no doubt that there would have been fewer cases and fewer deaths if we had had enough RATs for daily screening of everyone, access to PCR tests where needed, access to surge workforce as promised and reliable access to PPE.

The royal commission into aged care's report, released just two years ago, was called Neglect. What would they call it today? Maybe their next report should be called 'Disgrace'.

Locals are confused about pandemic information, with no communication from the government about the virus and what to do if you catch it, about vaccinations and boosters and about rapid antigen tests and where to get them. The void has been filled with misinformation and conspiracy theories on social media and in our mainstream media. It's not just the failure of the Morrison government to keep Australians informed during this very difficult time; as the Prime Minister will know, members of his government are actively undermining our health workers by spreading and encouraging dangerous misinformation and conspiracy theories about the pandemic and making money from it. If the Prime Minister stands by and does nothing, he is condoning this behaviour. Less ukulele, more whip!

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