Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Van, for your question. It is absolutely unquestioned that Australia is doing an extraordinary job to flatten the curve of the coronavirus pandemic and to contain the spread, which means that we have saved many, many lives of Australians through this process. But now is not the time to be complacent. As restrictions are being eased in our communities it is absolutely important that all Australians remain safe and they understand what it is that they need to do to remain safe, because it is critically important, not just for us as individuals, that we don't just protect ourselves but we look out for others.

That's why, through a society-wide effort to make sure that we have the appropriate response in place for the coronavirus, we are a world leader and the envy of the rest of the world in areas such as testing, tracing and containing the virus. We've worked absolutely tirelessly over the last few months to make sure that we have got the capacity in place, and that includes making sure that all Australians have got access to the kind of digital capabilities that they need to navigate their way through this pandemic and as we go forward. It is absolutely vital that all Australians are empowered to proactively limit the spread of the coronavirus and protect the community. That's why the Prime Minister launched Australia's contact-tracing app, COVIDSafe, to help protect the lives and health of the Australian community to make sure that we are in a position to quickly respond and be able to trace people if they have come into contact with somebody who has the virus. The app complements the existing manual process by which we currently trace and track people. Those processes are being undertaken by state and territory officials. It is absolutely essential that we have this in place as we ease restrictions on social gatherings.