Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Appropriation ( C oronavirus R esponse) B ill ( N o. 1) 2021-2022

Today, the government introduces the Appropriation (Coronavirus Response) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 and the Appropriation (Coronavirus Response) Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022.

These bills seek authority from the parliament for additional appropriations to cover the cash flow requirements for coronavirus response programs through February and March 2022. These bills are necessary because of the significant impacts of the COVID-19 variants, for which funding is required before the usual time for parliamentary passage of appropriation bills (Nos. 3 and 4) 2021-2022.

The bills together propose appropriations of nearly $5.2 billion to the Department of Health and the National Recovery and Resilience Agency solely for the purposes of supporting responses to COVID-19 variants.

The bill proposes appropriations of $2.2 billion for the National Recovery and Resilience Agency for further pandemic leave disaster payments to ensure funding is available should claims continue at high levels consistent with the most recent emerging demand.

The remaining $935 million will be provided to the Department of Health for a range of measures that support the national vaccine program, the treatment of coronavirus and rapid antigen testing for the Australian community and health sector.

These amounts in the bills are quarantined to the relevant programs, and if they are ultimately not required to the extent provisioned (for instance if demand for pandemic leave disaster payments moderates), any residual will be returned to budget.

As with all annual appropriation bills, these bills also propose a new Advance to the Finance Minister (AFM) provision, to address urgent and unforeseen pressures which may arise. The bill strictly, however, limits the use of the provision to address only coronavirus pressures and it sets this contingency at $5 billion, approximating unknown risks to the level of the known pressures for which the bill provides funding. This AFM provision will be subject to the same transparency and accountability undertakings as are applied to the AFM provided through the annual appropriation acts. These transparency arrangements are contained for the first time in the explanatory memorandum to the bills.

It is critical that these bills be passed before the end of this week, to support delivery of the relevant programs at the necessary pace to achieve the intended health and social support outcomes.

Debate adjourned.

Leave granted for second reading debate to resume at a later hour this day.