Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about this government's main job this year. Those opposite had two jobs. One was to vaccinate the Australian population so we'd be free of COVID, and the other was to take care of quarantine. We've seen the Morrison government fail at both. They have failed on quarantine and they have failed on vaccinations, with less than two per cent of the population having been vaccinated. That's well behind other countries of the same standard as Australia—well behind the US, well behind Europe and well behind many other Asian countries. We've continuously heard mixed messages from the government, with things like, 'It's not a race.' Well, it's not a race if we're all vaccinated, if our quarantine is up to scratch and if we know that COVID has gone forever. That's when it becomes not a race. Otherwise it is a continual race.

Today I had a message from a constituent of mine whose father went into aged care. He says: 'John is at St Anna's at Brompton. I'm struggling to get him his COVID-19 vaccination. The aged-care facility had their first vaccination the week before his admission. There is no catch-up plan. The head nurse advised me, "If you want John vaccinated, he'll need to leave the facility and attend a community vaccination clinic." He is too weak and frail to attend a vaccination clinic.' This is an area that is the sole responsibility of the Morrison government, which has failed us on vaccinations.