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

Mr Deputy Speaker, as you well know, 2020 has been a year like no other, challenging even the most resilient of us, particularly our Victorian colleagues. Queenslanders have been relatively lucky. We've seen far fewer cases of COVID-19 compared to Victoria and New South Wales. We're lucky to have a leader who has been committed to making sure Queenslanders are kept safe. Sadly, six Queenslanders have passed away due to this awful virus—six families with a horrible loss in a horrible year. Queensland currently has only six active cases of COVID-19, and it's been 45 days since we've had a case of community transmission. The Sunshine State should be congratulated for their testing efforts. More than 1.2 million Queenslanders have had tests in this time. We've worked together, led by a strong leader and incredibly brave and professional health staff, and Queenslanders have been kept safe.

COVID-19 has caused significant damage to economies across the world, and, in Queensland, jobs and businesses have suffered too, but the Premier's firm and steady response to the virus has allowed businesses, for the most part, to reopen and trade with some sort of normality, while keeping COVID-safe practices in place. That has saved lives. We're thankful this crisis has been managed so competently. It might be a very different reality today if we'd listened to some of those other voices. We know that the LNP and Deb Frecklington have continually called for Queensland's borders to be opened up. Sixty-four times, Deb Frecklington called for COVID borders to be scrapped. She stood in front of a billboard 'She kept borders shut', but we know keeping borders shut was the right call to keep Queenslanders safe and allow our economy to at least stay on track. The LNP's short-term politics would have derailed businesses and cost lives.

We're not out of the woods yet. The pandemic's not over, and a vaccine is not in hand. Hopefully Queensland's COVID restrictions can be relaxed even more, but these decisions need to be carefully considered and balanced, not berated by billboards and bleeding boofheads. Annastacia Palaszczuk is the best person to lead Queensland through this pandemic, keep us safe, get people working again and keep our economy ticking over. Deb Frecklington is just not up to the task. Queensland's economic rebound is forecast to be almost twice as strong as the Australian average because of the strong leadership of the Palaszczuk government. Queensland's gross state product is forecast to grow by 3¾ per cent in 2020-21, compared to an RBA forecasted national GDP of just two per cent. Local state members in my community like Peter Russo in Toohey, Mark Bailey in Miller, Jess Pugh in Mount Ommaney, Duncan Pegg in Stretton, Leeanne Enoch in Algester and Jackie Trad in South Brisbane are working hard in their communities, backing Annastacia's plan for a Queensland recovery. The strong health response by the Palaszczuk government has laid the foundation for Queensland's economic recovery. Easing restrictions internally has benefited businesses right across the state.