Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I think, self-evidently, the endeavour to put in place an app of this nature and to encourage Australians to take up using the app, to download it, is an important part of the pathway out of the most onerous aspects of the COVID-19 restrictions that have been put in place.

We do encourage as many Australians as possible to download the app, because that will help—absolutely that will help—with all of these processes, including contact tracing. We know, and you would be aware, that the contact tracing process is extraordinarily intensive for health authorities. Any mechanism which assists with that process is invaluable in delivering the outcomes we need, to make sure that if there is an issue, if there is an outbreak, all of the contingencies that we need to be planning for, across states and territories and through the national cabinet and the Commonwealth government—if there is a need to do that major contact tracing, we have a better facilitated process for that. The app will provide that, but the number of downloads is not conditional, in terms of the lifting of restrictions.

The lifting of restrictions is a complex process. It's being addressed, step by step, in a very deliberate way through the national cabinet and, as I said, states and territories will make their own decisions in relation to that. The advice and process the national cabinet has followed has been made very clear publicly.