Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Everyone in parliament would agree that no Australian health worker should die due to a shortage of personal protective equipment. There are still reports that hospitals, GPs and pharmacies are struggling to cope with a shortage of personal protective equipment. Could the Prime Minister please update the House on when these shortages will be fixed?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for health for his question. I'll ask the Minister for Health to provide a more detailed response. This has been one of the key focuses of the government now over some period of time. We've been able to secure significant supplies, particularly in recent days and weeks. I want to thank all of those who have been involved, whether from industry or government directly, in securing those supplies from a large number of sources. We've also been working now over many weeks to increase our own domestic production capability of that same equipment. It is important for all the reasons that the member has said. I'll ask the Minister for Health to further update the House.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge the member for McMahon for his question. One of the highest priorities of this government has been to ensure continued supply of personal protective equipment in what has been an intensely competitive global environment. We've seen the shortages and the suffering not just of health workers but in relation to the broader population, whether it's in Europe, North America, parts of Asia or elsewhere. Against that background, we've been determined to continue, through both domestic production and international procurement, the supply of personal protective equipment. That has included the distribution of 11 million masks to date, which includes 2½ million to primary healthcare networks to support GPs, community pharmacies and Aboriginal and community controlled health organisations; more than a million masks to support those who are assisting in frontline activities; and six million masks to state and territory health departments to support the acute-care sector, in particular hospitals.

We have also, as part of our procurement program, now landed over 30 million masks in Australia. This has been a difficult and challenging task. That is part of a broader order process of 500 million masks. As a consequence, we are now allocating a second round of 11 million masks. Shortly before question time I announced that that would include seven million for states and territories for their frontline public hospitals; 2.3 million for primary health networks, including 1½ million for GPs, 500,000 for community pharmacies, 75,000 for Indigenous workforce and healthcare, and 160,000 for respiratory clinics; and 1.7 million masks for our aged-care workers. We will continue to provide those masks. We are now getting ahead of the curve on this front, but we are very mindful of international supply constraints.

I want to thank our healthcare workers. They are literally saving lives and protecting lives. We will do everything we can to support them and to protect them.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Australians are stepping up in response to the coronavirus by following health advice and social-distancing measures that protect them and their fellow citizens. How is the Morrison government working to ensure that it can continue to protect the lives and livelihoods of our fellow Australians throughout this pandemic?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bass for her question and for her leadership in her community during this crisis we face, as well as acknowledge all members in this House for the strong leadership they're showing in their local communities at this difficult time. Over the past 11 weeks, since we first declared the coronavirus as a disease of pandemic potential, we have been putting in place the key protections and supports that will be necessary for Australia to combat the virus and to combat, withstand and cushion the significant impact that will flow as a result of the economic consequences of the virus.

We have navigated our way together through these early stages and set up a national baseline of these supports right across the country. That has been done not just through the actions of the federal government, of course, but through the strong, coordinated leadership that has been exhibited through the national cabinet, the premiers and chief ministers and all of their state and territory governments. We now have in place one of the strongest testing regimes of any country in the world. We have been flattening the curve, reducing the rate of daily growth from over 20 per cent to what is now an average of around two per cent. We are boosting the ICU capacity and getting access to those critical supplies that the member for McMahon was just asking about, and we will see ICU capacity treble. The time that we have bought in the way we have flattened the curve with the measures we've put in place, particularly when it comes to social distancing and other restrictions in the community that have been accepted and adapted to by the Australian community, has been nothing short of phenomenal, and we thank them for their cooperation.

Federally, whether it's been the private hospital guarantee; the work we've done on accessing respirators and testing facilities, and engaging with other countries—I was speaking to the President of Korea only yesterday about these issues and the Secretary of State from the United States this morning—the telehealth facilities; the aged-care workforce; the search for a vaccine; the metal health support—some $6.3 billion worth of health related measures—is all buying us valuable time. Whether it's been protecting the vulnerable through the $123 million to support Indigenous communities; the $200 million for emergency relief; the support for delivering meals to the elderly; the $150 million for domestic violence initiatives—particularly through programs such as 1800RESPECT—cybersecurity and e-safety supports, because we have so many more Australians, particularly children, online who are vulnerable; support through our disability services; the economic lifeline that has been provided through doubling of the jobseeker arrangements with the supplement; the $130 JobKeeper program; the mandatory code to support tenants through their leases; the childcare arrangements, which are free to Australians who particularly need it, this is all buying us valuable time, time that will enable us to work through this crisis to the other side and beyond.