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

[by video link] I'm joining you virtually today, from the heart of Wyndham, the heart of the electorate of Lalor, where we're in lockdown again. Many families have done weeks and weeks of isolation. We are in our second COVID winter, one we thought we would avoid, one we thought we would be protected from by vaccines. Instead, we are here.

There is some good local news today, as 100,000 people in my electorate and across the City of Wyndham have had their first jab. That's 50 per cent of those eligible. Over 53,000 people have had their second job. This is amazing, particularly when you consider that 64 per cent of my community are under 40. To my community I want to say, this is a race and I'm glad to see that you're in it. The best vaccine you can get is the vaccine that you can book today. And, please, don't listen to the Prime Minister, who said that vaccines could wait; who faffed about instead of ensuring we had the appropriate number of vaccines and the variations of vaccines that we needed at the beginning of this year. To the Prime Minister I say this: locals are saying they are waiting six to eight weeks for Pfizer. PM, my community are up for the challenge. They are in this race. Your job is to deliver the vaccines we need.