Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Ciccone asks, 'Which one?' It's former Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott is travelling overseas, not on Australian government business, on UK government business. He's going overseas, coming back, taking up a quarantine space, going overseas again, coming back, taking up a quarantine space. That means two stranded Australians will not spend Christmas with their families because of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott—not former Prime Minister Rudd, as Scott Morrison falsely claimed. We haven't heard about that from Scott Morrison. Two spaces—you might think, 'What's two spaces?' Let me tell you something: the number of stranded Australians has grown and grown.

On 18 September the Prime Minister promised the 26,000 stranded Australians on DFAT's list would be home by Christmas. Only 17,000 have made it back. There are some 9,000 people who are on that DFAT list of 18 September who literally have two days to make it back to Australia, go through quarantine and get out to be able to celebrate Christmas with their families. Of course they have a hope of celebrating Christmas with their families; the Prime Minister promised it would happen. When the Prime Minister makes a promise, maybe the people of Australia should be able to rely on it. As a citizen of Australia, you should be able to rely on your Prime Minister's promises. When he looks down the barrel of a camera and he says, 'I'm going to get all those stranded Australians home by Christmas,' of course stranded Australians think they can rely on that. But what do we know about this Prime Minister, Scott Morrison? He has trouble telling the truth. He's all about the headline, never about the delivery. He's always there for the photo op, never there for the follow-up. It is cruel. In this circumstance, it is cruel.

As Senator Gallagher, Senator Watt and I on the COVID committee have heard, there are stranded Australians who have been trying to come back to this country since March. They have had flights cancelled. They have spent tens of thousands of dollars—$50,000, $60,000, $70,000—trying to get flights back to Australia. They have lost their homes. They have lost their jobs. They are being sent to homeless shelters. They are living off food banks and charities. They are running afoul of visa conditions in other countries. They are facing a Northern Hemisphere winter in the middle of a global pandemic. It is un-Australian to leave your mates behind, but that is precisely what the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, is doing. He is leaving Australians behind. He has made them a promise and he is breaking that promise. He is breaking their hearts.

When you see photos of the Prime Minister on his social media putting up his Christmas tree and sitting around his Christmas lunch with his family, well, good for him! I am happy, and I wish the Prime Minister and his family a merry Christmas. But when we see those photos let us not forget that there are now 40,000 stranded Australians stuck overseas, barred from coming back to their country by this Prime Minister. You know what? He has a COVID-safe way to bring them back. Jane Halton, his hand picked expert, handed him a report that's told him how to increase quarantine capacity, told him that the federal government should take responsibility, told him that the federal government should open up a quarantine facility with a human health response zone and told him that they had a responsibility to bring these stranded Australians home in the middle of a global pandemic. This Prime Minister has such a problem with the truth. This Prime Minister is letting people down and leaving Australians behind.