Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia needs more jabs and less stabbing in the back from this government. We have a new Deputy Prime Minister, who is actually the old Deputy Prime Minister. But one thing that hasn't changed is the snail's pace of our vaccine rollout. We are going into winter, and, instead of ramping up the vaccine rollout, because of this government's incompetence and this government's decision to put all of their eggs in the AstraZeneca basket, what we are going to have is a dramatic decrease in the number of vaccines given to Australians at the very worst time.

When the delta variant is rising throughout Europe and the United States and is in our community—it's currently in NSW—this government is unable to get vaccines out to Australians because they chose to put all of their eggs in the AstraZeneca basket. They didn't do a deal with Moderna. We were pleading with the government: 'Please, do a deal with Moderna.' They met with Pfizer in July but didn't sign anything until November because they chose to put all their eggs in the AstraZeneca basket. They forgot Moderna and Pfizer, and now Australians are paying the price. We need more jabs and less stabs in the back from this government. Instead, what we're given is not vaccinations but the return to the days of Barnaby Joyce, the member for New England, as the Deputy Prime Minister.