Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To echo the words of the member for Jagajaga, it is a doughnut day in Victoria today. For the fifth time, Victorians have shown their tenacity, their determination and also the way they can work together to crush the virus. Now, twice, we've pushed back delta in Victoria.

For my community, which had such rampant COVID numbers last winter, it was really disappointing to see the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald today with the headline 'Most vulnerable, least protected—city's west lags in jabs race.' For the record, as someone from Melbourne's west, we're a very young population. Perhaps not me, but the people I represent. They haven't been eligible for vaccinations.

I want to encourage everybody at home to make sure that you're doing your bit, contacting your GP and making sure that you're somewhere in that queue for vaccination. But I want to call on the federal government to put more support in place so that we can have more readily accessible vaccines. Not every family in my electorate has a GP. Not every family in my electorate has a connection to a superclinic. They need these jabs to be accessible. They might also need some incentives, Mr Morrison. Prime Minister, it's a good idea; let's get it done.