Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Central to our path to a public health recovery and an economic recovery from the global COVID pandemic is uptake of the vaccine, and we know that the rollout of the vaccine started in Australia this week. As a representative of my community and a member of this parliament, my duty is to do everything I can to promote the public health response. I wouldn't ask anyone to do anything I'm not willing to do myself. So, today I received the vaccine, alongside the Leader of the Opposition, to show people who have underlying health conditions that the COVID vaccines are safe.

If you have any concerns, contact your treating practitioner. Don't listen to people like the member for Hughes. It's a disgrace that, at a time when we are trying to promote a vaccine backed by the TGA and expert medical practitioners and bodies, the man the Prime Minister personally intervened to protect and ensure that he stayed in this parliament is now stealing media attention and headlines and undermining public health advice. If you have concerns about taking the vaccine, talk to your GP. Talk to your specialist. I went and got medical advice that said I could take the vaccine, and I'm getting treated for cancer. It's up to all of us to do it. Do it for yourself, do it for your community and do it for Australia. The vaccine is so important.