Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The national plan to safely reopen our nation and live with COVID-19 is being realised through the actions of Australians like those in my western Sydney community coming forward to get vaccinated.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Barton is warned!

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the national plan is ending restrictions and building our path out of the pandemic?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lindsay for her question. It is great to see her back in this chamber, as it is to see so many other members now back in the chamber—which is reflective of the fact that Australia is opening up. Our national plan is working. The national plan that we began working on together with the Doherty Institute back March—a plan that was agreed not once but twice by all premiers and chief ministers around the country as I brought that national plan forward—is working. That plan, which is based on the best scientific and medical research, analysis and advice available, is working. We are seeing that plan, which was to safety open and then remain safely open, being realised right across the country. It is a plan that set out clear vaccination targets, scientifically determined, for Australians to know that when they passed those targets they could be confident that we could open safely and remain safely open. Australians have responded. Australians have rolled up their sleeves. Australians are keeping their part of the deal that has come together as part of the national plan. Today 69.2 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over have been double-vaccinated. As a share of the total population, Australia's double-vaccination rate is now higher than that of the United States. In the member's own electorate, in the LGA of Penrith, 84 per cent are double-dose vaccinated—and I hasten to add that in the Sutherland Shire that figure is 89 per cent. So, thank you to all those in the Sutherland Shire in southern Sydney.

The vaccination rates are surging in New South Wales, with first-dose rates above 90 per cent. New South Wales is opening. Australians are coming home. There have been 52,300 downloads of international vaccination certificates over the last 24 hours. Victoria is opening up, and I note in particular Victoria's road map, just announced, delivering the national plan, from the Victorian state government. I welcome that. Queensland is opening up. The Queensland borders will be coming down. We welcome that, as Queensland honours the national plan. The ACT is finally opening up, as well as South Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania. I spoke to the Tasmanian and South Australian premiers this morning, confirming their commitments. As a country, we have the lowest fatality rates in the world when it comes to COVID—one of the strongest economic stories and recoveries in the COVID pandemic—and we're now on track to ensure that we have one of the world's highest vaccination rates.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the member for McMahon, I will say that it is right that we have a large number of members back here in the chamber, which is fantastic. The unfortunate bit is that it's been accompanied by a rise in interjections, and I just remind members that it's taken a long time to get some of you back. It would be a pity if you'd come back only to be ejected under 94(a).