Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of questions from Senators Gallagher and Kitching to Senator Colbeck in relation to the failed vaccine rollout. You can see the penny dropping for senators opposite. It has been going on all week. On the other side they thought they had got away with the catastrophic bungling of the most important public health program in Australia's political history, vital for our public health, vital for the future of our economy. At the beginning of this week you could see in their faces as they came in here on the balls of their toes that they thought they'd got away with it, that the criticism had been muted. In fact what has happened is households across the country have just shrugged their shoulders because it's more of the same from the Morrison government. We've gone from, 'I don't hold a hose, mate' to 'I don't hold a dose, mate.' We've gone from broken promises, more announcements, more spin over the bushfire crisis to broken promises, more announcements, more spin and more marketing over another issue that's vital for public health, vital for the economy and vital for every household in the country. You could see it in the lacklustre tone—the excuses, the dissembling, the lack of interest, the lack of a sense of urgency—from Minister Colbeck in question time today. Just like when he had responsibility for aged care—remember, Neglect was the title of the report that made an assessment of his performance as the aged-care minister—everything that this minister touches turns to custard.

The COVID-19 pandemic, for the government, has just been a distraction from what they see as the real business of government—staying in government and looking after themselves and their mates. We've had a cycle of announcements and promises over the COVID-19 vaccine rollout that has been accelerating as the sense of crisis and failure has risen. Last year, the Prime Minister promised that Australia would be at the front of the queue for vaccination. At the beginning of this year, the Prime Minister promised that four million Australians would be vaccinated by the end of March. Today, the promises and announcements accelerate, with five different positions from the Prime Minister and the Treasurer and various assorted ministers.

The problem for Minister Colbeck answering questions in the Senate today is that, while he's entitled to be confused about the government's position, it's really quite a simple proposition: if you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything; you just tell the truth. Well, the truth is that Australia has vaccinated just 2,736,107 people. We are 81st in the world in the percentage of our population vaccinated. In raw terms, there are 15 countries that have a smaller population that have vaccinated more people. It's a geography lesson, really. Singapore, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Chile and Greece have all vaccinated more people and have a smaller population. Chile has six million fewer people than Australia and has fully vaccinated 16 million people in their population. Chile has fully vaccinated almost six times as many people as Australia has. How can it be that this country has performed so poorly?

There's been such wilful neglect of this basic requirement of government. This Prime Minister's not been able to grasp the nettle to do the right thing by Australians and Australian families and has left us stranded, exposed, isolated and vulnerable to future outbreaks of this virus, with a quarantine system that is fundamentally compromised. Unable to take responsibility for quarantines and vaccines, he's left Australian households at the mercy of the pandemic and a future economic crisis. (Time expired)