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

I thank Senator Abetz for his question. Australia's security, safety and prosperity are intertwined with those in our region. We are working in close partnership with our neighbours to implement our over $500 million vaccine access initiative and our $80 million contribution to the COVAX Facility fund for developing countries. That fund began its first delivery of vaccines yesterday to protect some of the world's most vulnerable people. We're consulting with 18 partner countries across the Pacific and South-East Asia to align their national vaccine deployment plans and directly address their priorities.

Our support is deliberately end to end. So we're providing technical advice to support the rollout of vaccines under the COVAX facility. We have already assisted Vanuatu, Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga in this way. In particular, we're supporting Tonga to develop and implement a new national vaccination register. We're deploying Australian specialists to work with these partner governments. Our National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance is deploying a specialist to Timor-Leste to support preparations for their national rollout. Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration is providing advice to our partners, which is critical in building that trust in the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Our support includes identifying target populations for early vaccinations; developing public health materials; strengthening cold chain and medical supply management; and establishing monitoring and evaluation arrangements. For example, we will shortly be training Solomon Islands epidemiologists in data collection and analysis. My Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi, and I have agreed on a strong package of support for Indonesia to procure vaccines and to provide technical assistance. I also discussed our support with Teddy Locsin, the Foreign Secretary of the Philippines, this week as well. This is a program which is meeting the pledges that Australia has made to support our shared regional recovery from the pandemic.