Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Many in this place are rising today, the last sitting day, to give their reflections on the year, to wish their electorates and their communities a merry Christmas. I'd like to do the same, but I also want to acknowledge that this year, like last year, has been tough. Many in my electorate would say that, in fact, 2021 has been harder than 2020. There is a level of frustration, too, that, particularly when we have leaders who are just trying to be merry, be happy, with our Prime Minister suggesting that it's going to be a great Christmas, for many it's not going to be. Whilst people will get together and have the opportunity to catch up, there is still going to be an element of sadness for so many. Because of the pandemic and the health restrictions, people have missed out on key events, key moments, in their lives. They did so to keep others safe. There are people who won't be at the Christmas table this year, people who have passed away. People might not have had the opportunity to go to their funeral and could only watch it via live link. They are the people that I'm thinking of this Christmas.

There are people as well in our community who will be meeting grandchildren, nieces and nephews for the first time. Children who have been born in 2021 might have relatives interstate, or even in Melbourne, who haven't been able to meet them until now. That's my story. My sister, who lives up in the Torres Strait, hasn't met my son yet. Little Charlie will be eight months next week. We're hoping to get together this Christmas. Our fingers are crossed. I really thank the people of Queensland for getting the jab, for their high vaccination rates, because it means that my family may be able to get together. My family is like many families. It's a story that is common throughout Australia. Whilst it will be a happy reunion, there will also be that sense of sadness because there were many months when my sister couldn't meet her nephew.

There are also the people that we've lost. That last lockdown in Melbourne, you may have heard from others, was particularly hard. There were people who just didn't make it through. The toll of the pandemic on mental health has been high, and it's important that we acknowledge that, whilst many have been kept safe because of the lockdowns, we will not know the long-term mental health toll for some time. I'm thinking of those families and want to say that we acknowledge that this Christmas is that bit harder for you because some of your loved ones have not made it through.

That is why this place is so important. Rather than just sending good wishes and saying, 'Let's come together and move on,' we need to acknowledge that we're still in the pandemic. We need to acknowledge that there is still a lot more work for this place to do, whether it be support, whether it be resourcing—health resourcing, mental health resourcing. Making sure that you can take time off work to care for your loved ones, whether they have COVID or not, is critical. People need to be allowed time to grieve if they have lost somebody. They may have delayed grief because they weren't able to grieve properly at the time of the person's passing. It's a time when we really need compassion and understanding, not celebrations and freedom days, not celebrations like the Prime Minister is trying to suggest. There needs to be a level of empathy.

I also want to give a shout-out to those in my community who are still in isolation. Despite people thinking the pandemic is over, it is not. The biggest COVID cluster at the moment is in my electorate. It's at the Holy Rosary Primary School. As you know, primary school children still are not eligible for the vaccine. Children aged nought to five are still not eligible for the vaccine. So, as long as our littlest Australians can still be exposed to this virus and potentially get very sick, their parents, their school communities and their teachers are still at risk. They have to of course isolate with their children, isolate if they've been exposed and isolate if they have the virus.

So we still have a long way to go in this pandemic, despite our high vaccination rates. I urge the Prime Minister and this government to not simply close the book and say, 'Job done.' We need to be investing more in our health resources, whether it be mental health or COVID recovery, to ensure that everybody has a safe and prosperous new year.