Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government. Will the minister please outline to the House how the Morrison-McCormack government is working to ensure all Australians, including those living in regional and remote areas, will have access to the COVID-19 vaccine?

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker, Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Mallee for her question and recognise her ongoing interest in representing health related issues not only in her electorate but right across Australia. Today is the first day of 1b of the vaccine rollout. I want to reassure the people of regional Australia that this vaccine rollout is going to regional areas across the country at the same time as the city. It is a modest start, with 1,000 GP clinics starting this week. In the member for Mallee's hometown of Mildura, the Ontario Medical Clinic has its supplies in place and will be starting on Wednesday. As the rollout continues, we will be building up to 4,000 GPs. We will also be rolling it out to pharmacies, Aboriginal controlled medical services, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and respiratory clinics. The rollout across regional Australia will be quite varied and unique to each town. Already there are some towns in Central Queensland that have been covered by the Queensland Department of Health.

But a word of warning. Regional Australia has been probably the safest place on the planet for the last 14 months but people need to understand that, as the vaccine rollout continues and more people start to travel, many of those communities are quite vulnerable. They have higher levels of chronic illness and not as many intensive care units locally. With the rollout, as more people travel over the next 12 months, those regional communities need to make sure they take opportunity when it comes to their place because they will be vulnerable. One of the highlights of the last year—if there were highlights—is the fact that Australians have discovered regional areas. Some of those smaller, more isolated communities that aren't used to having large numbers of visitors are being discovered by Australians as they discover the pleasures of small communities across regional Australia. The message is that this rollout is about demography, not geography. So when you're age group or particular group is ready to be vaccinated, the rollout in regional Australia is exactly the same as it is in the cities.