Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I make a few comments about what happened during this debate today, I want to say it seems absolutely outrageous that we have poorer people not being vaccinated. The country's highest vaccination rates are in the wealthiest pockets of Sydney and Melbourne, while poorer parts of Sydney's west and south, the hit hardest by the latest outbreaks, have had some of the lowest coverage in New South Wales. Let's go a bit further. Parts of outback Australia are also lagging behind, with fewer than 10 per cent of the population in some regional areas being fully vaccinated more than five months into the rollout.

Has there ever been a more damaging display of negligence in Australian history than the Prime Minister's vaccine 'stroll out'? More than 10 million Australians are in lockdown across Sydney and South-East Queensland. Lockdowns are costing the Australian economy nearly $300 million each day. While countries around the world are opening up, Australia is shutting down. This is because of the Prime Minister's insistence that the vaccine rollout is 'not a race'.

Prime Minister Morrison had two jobs this year: a speedy rollout of the vaccine and effective quarantine, and he has monumentally failed at both. Having failed, the Morrison government must now ensure it does not also fail to support Australian people without work, particularly those in sectors that have been hardest hit, such as aviation. Unfortunately, this is precisely what is happening. Aviation workers have been through 18 months of hell, and today they have received the latest kick in the guts. Australia's highest paid CEO, Alan Joyce, has announced he will be standing down 2,500 Qantas and Jetstar workers without pay. The Morrison government has had more than 18 months to come up with a plan for the survival and recovery of Australian aviation, to keep the skill sets there that are so vital.

The Qantas announcement also came just hours after the government had announced a program to provide COVID support payments to some aviation workers. The payments will only go to 50 per cent of stood-down pilots and crew. There are no payments for any other aviation workers. Our Prime Minister may not be aware, but there are thousands of other aviation workers who keep our planes in the air, including many who live in his electorate raising their families and supporting their communities. Prime Minister, how about you start listening to those people from your own electorate! Thousands of ground crew have been carved out of Mr Morrison's aviation support, many of whom will now be stood down by Qantas without pay, without any plan from the government and without any plan on how to put food on the table.

It just happens that the same workers who have been abandoned by the Morrison government have also been illegally abandoned by Qantas. The Federal Court on Friday found that Qantas had broken the law when it outsourced 2,000 ground handling jobs year. It was a massive victory for those 2,000 essential workers and the Transport Workers Union. But how did the Morrison government respond to the decision? It turned around and cuts ground staff out of the aviation support package.

So who is really calling the shots in this country when it comes to aviation? Alan Joyce received $2 billion from the Prime Minister. He asked for it and he got it. Alan Joyce asked for that money to have no strings attached so that he could outsource 2,500 jobs. And the Prime Minister gave that to him. The vindictive Alan Joyce wanted to take revenge on those workers for beating him in court, and the Prime Minister cut them out of the aviation support package. How's that for the 'spirit of Australia'?

Quite clearly we've seen a number of examples of the horrific nature of what's been happening with this rollout. We see less than five per cent of home-care workers now covered by vaccination. Of course, the government's response is: 'It's not a focus.' Well, 85 per cent of our aged Australians are supported by home-care workers. It's another failing by this government, because it has not got the vaccinations in place. 'It's not a race.' They're not—