Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline to the House how the Morrison government is working to give Australians the hope and certainty they need to plan for their futures despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and recession?

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

I thank the member for Grey for his question. In May, nationally, we agreed to a plan to reopen Australia. That was informed by the work of our own cabinet and, indeed, the cabinets of state and territory governments all around the country. And we had ambition that that plan would be achieved in July. That plan included the movement of Australians between states and territories—interstate travel. The state and territory premiers and I committed ourselves to that plan. Much has been achieved as a result of that plan. Seven out of eight states and territories have been able to gather considerable ground against the virus in opening up their economies all around the country.

But it is true that the second wave that has occurred in Victoria has stalled that progress and, in many cases, it has resulted in that progress receding. That has obviously cost lives, and it has cost livelihoods as the second wave that has occurred in Australia has impacted in Australia. But Victoria has turned the corner and we, together with the Victorian government, are planning to reopen Melbourne and reopen Victoria. In discussions last night between me and the Premier of Victoria and the Premier of South Wales, that was our commitment—to see Australia opened up again, to see the New South Wales-Victoria border opened up again as soon as it is safe to do so. And I welcome that cooperation from the New South Wales and Victorian governments.

We must, though, return to the ambitions that we set out in May for that plan to open up Australia again. We should aim for Australians to go to work by Christmas, to be with their families at Christmas, to return to visit their friends and to look forward to a positive 2021. We cannot resign Australia to being a dislocated nation under COVID-19. What we must plan to do by Christmas is work together to ensure we have the protections in place to protect the health and safety of Australians, to open up our economies and to ensure the ambitions of our Federation are returned to again and not resigned to being a victim of coronavirus. That is what our plan is: to work together with the states and territories to reactivate the plan that we first set out in May and made great progress towards.

There is much to be achieved. There are borders in place now, and that is understandable. But what we have to work to do is let Australians know that they will be able to come together as families by Christmas and look to a 2021 that doesn't look like the difficulties that they have gone through in 2020. That is what our government is seeking to do. That is what we are committed to doing, and we are committed to doing it with everyone in this country, every government in this country, who will come together behind that ambition.