Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm a worried man. I wish to make my concerns known. The government is putting all its eggs in the Doherty modelling basket, and I'm very worried man. I'm worried that the modelling is just that; it's not the truth and it's not the Ten Commandments. The Doherty modelling is based on a lot of assumptions that, certainly in my electorate of Macarthur, are not true. Our intensive care is overflowing, over capacity. Our wards are being filled with patients with COVID-19, and, as in any health crisis, the vulnerable are the ones that are paying the price.

I'm a worried man. I'm a worried man because the Prime Minister seems to exist in a fantasy world where he believes that restrictions can be eased very soon. I'm a worried man because all our eggs are in the one basket. I'm a worried man because staffing is a major issue in our health services. I'm a worried man because the most vulnerable are not being protected. I'm worried that those in western New South Wales, in remote communities, in Dubbo, Wilcannia and Burke, are lacking resources; their immunisation rates are very low and the most vulnerable, again, are the ones that are suffering. We've had over 1,200 cases in New South Wales because of the incompetence of the New South Wales government and the discriminatory way in which they've put restrictions in place. I'm a worried man. This government doesn't understand the reality of the pandemic. It doesn't understand what's happening in my electorate, on which no modelling has been done.