Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My heart goes out to everyone in Victoria going into lockdown today. You've been through this before, and I know the next seven days are going to be tough for so many. As you know, the outbreak began in hotel quarantine in Adelaide. It is the 17th outbreak from hotel quarantine. The truth is you should never have been put in this situation, because the Morrison government should have fixed quarantine months ago. I met with John Wagner this morning, from Wellcamp. His proposal could be up and running in 12 weeks, housing a thousand people and not requiring a single dollar of government funding to proceed.

I can't tell you why the government Morrison government hasn't fixed quarantine, why it hasn't sorted the vaccine rollout, why warnings from experts have been ignored, and I certainly can't tell you why this government is declaring itself comfortable while thousands of Victorians pay the price for its complacency. What I can tell you is that Australians are with you, Victoria. The virus anywhere is a threat to people everywhere. I wish it wasn't the case. I wish that Victorians weren't being asked to do the heavy lifting, but I say simply: thank you, stay safe, stay strong, we're thinking of you and Australia stands with you.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.