Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about love. Love: it's not a topic we frequently talk about in this place—and I'm not thinking about the deep affection that those opposite feel towards me and my colleagues, but rather the love that has been tested through COVID-19. What's inspired me to talk about love today is knowing that, next Thursday, there's a fellow from the Sunny Coast who'll be catching up with a lady from Germany face-to-face for the first time after 15 months apart.

COVID-19 has tested everybody and I think we need to acknowledge: as much as those stories of reunions might inspire us, there are people who have not been with loved ones, and there are people who have lost loved ones, because they have not been able to be with them due to COVID-19. There are people who still, today, are apart, and they are the ones who continue to make a sacrifice, on our behalf as a country. Love, of course, conquers all, and, on COVID-19, as much as we've dealt with some serious issues of business and government, can we also pay tribute to those whose love has been tested and for whom this has been a very trying time.

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The anxiety that is sweeping through Melbourne, being watched by horrified Queenslanders and those in other states, could have been avoided with a competent vaccine rollout and a purpose-built quarantine facility. Yet, yesterday, the PM called the opposition and those others who critiqued the rollout of the vaccine 'whingers'—a rollout that could, at best, be described as 'troubled', which is now millions of jabs behind schedule.

The quarantine program is squarely within the Prime Minister's responsibilities under the Constitution. I cannot think of a rationale for not trying to improve quarantine. If it's responsibility, well, you've had 120 years to get across the Constitution and your responsibilities underneath it. If it's the money, well, how much money is it going to cost to shut down Melbourne for a week? Over a billion dollars, the retailers' association is saying. If it's a total and utter lack of a plan or vision for the country, well, I guess it's too late now! But we can still rely upon the premiers, who did all the hard work of keeping us safe, for those solutions.

The PM rejected Queensland's proposal for Wellcamp, saying, 'We can't have these things out in the desert.' Do you know the name we have for Toowoomba? As a proud Queenslander, Deputy Speaker Llew O'Brien, you would know. It's 'the garden city'. It has a carnival of flowers, Deputy Speaker. So you, as a proud Queenslander, will agree with me: we will never be lectured to by a New South Wales Prime Minister about whingeing.