Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

It is a disgrace, and it's a high risk situation. Get with the program. Get on with it. Every other country around the world that we like to compare ourselves with is getting on with it. They've vaccinated millions of people—tens of millions of people—and we can't even get to five per cent, and Australians are paying the price. How much money has been lost from local economies because of lockdowns? How many jobs have been lost because of this government's failure? It continues to say it's not a race. It is a race, and we are coming bone miserable last. We support this bill but we really want to see the government do its job. I move the second reading amendment circulated in my name:

At the end of the motion, add: ', but the Senate:

(a) notes the Government has:

(i) catastrophically failed to address outbreaks in hotel quarantine, which has led to extended lockdowns in states across Australia,

(ii) botched the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, which has left all Australians, but particularly aged care workers, vulnerable, and

(iii) failed to ensure that workers and businesses received the support needed in the recent Victorian lockdown,

(b) further notes this bill may not have been necessary, if not for the Government’s failure on quarantine and vaccines, both national responsibilities; and

(c) calls on the Government to:

(i) build dedicated quarantine facilities and expand existing facilities in every state and territory,

(ii) fix the vaccine rollout and expand mobile and mass vaccination clinics,

(iii) start a mass public information campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated, and

(iv) begin manufacturing mRNA vaccines right here in Australia'.