Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today we start the final week in parliament for 2020, and back home Victoria marks 38 straight days since our last case of COVID-19. This pandemic isn't over, but today Victorians also enter the final phase of easing of restrictions, the COVID-safe summer. It will mean more people in bars, cafes and restaurants; larger home gatherings in time for Christmas and Hanukkah; the revival of standing service at the pub; and dancing to live music in nightclubs and at weddings.

This is a special day for Victorians. It is a victory that every Victorian owns, because we did the hard yards to eliminate the second wave. And Victorians know that we did it with no thanks to the members of this Liberal government who played politics with this pandemic and threw Victorians under the bus every step of the way; no thanks to the Morrison government who cut JobKeeper and JobSeeker by $300 a fortnight to Victorians in the middle of stage 4 lockdown; no thanks to this government who issued press release after press release saying Victoria's strategy wasn't right, it was too slow, and it wouldn't work; and no thanks to this government who criticised Victoria's contact-tracing ability when their own contribution to contact tracing was a useless app that didn't trace a single unique contact in all of Victoria. Make no mistake: Victorians succeeded in spite of this Liberal government. They are not leaders; they are just Liberals.