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

I rise to make comment on this motion of Senator O'Neill to take note of Senator Birmingham's responses to questions. Here in New South Wales today, we've seen another 344 new COVID-19 cases. There are currently 374 people in hospital and 62 people in intensive care. There have been 34 deaths, which means that actually our hearts should be going out to those who have lost their loved ones. But we have a defence from the government, in this taking note. The Nationals senator's defence, Trump-like, is that it was China's fault. So he doesn't want to hold anyone else to account. Then the senator who spoke before me said that we should not question the failings of the government. Well, it is our responsibility to question what the government is doing with this lockdown. It's critically important that a spotlight, as disinfectant, be put on what the government is doing and how the government is performing. It is in the national interest to ensure that we do get proper answers, unlike what we've been seeing through question time.

We're nearly two months into lockdown here in Greater Sydney, and, unfortunately, we are seeing other parts of the state join in: the Hunter Valley, New England, Byron Shire, the Richmond Valley, Lismore, Ballina Shire and now Tamworth and Dubbo. Case numbers are continuing to head in the wrong direction.

Yesterday, the Sydney Morning Herald published a powerful opinion piece from a Western Sydney doctor who is gravely concerned about the situation in western and south-western Sydney. The doctor said:

NSW is almost certainly on the precipice of a massive deterioration. Contact tracers are overwhelmed, with reporting of infection hotspots lagging by days. The whole strategy of relying on contact tracing for infection control is failing, or indeed has failed.

This very brave whistleblower has spoken out. We've got to be asking questions about where we're up to in the fight against COVID-19. This specialist from Western Sydney has also given us a stark warning on what the situation is on the ground here in Sydney.

How did it come to this? There are some obvious failings. There's the botched vaccine rollout that Mr Morrison said isn't a race; there is the failure to set up a national quarantine system, which has seen a leak from hotel quarantine on average every nine days; there is the failure to supply vaccines to pharmacies, with just 25 per cent of authorised pharmacies now putting jabs into arms; there is the failure of the Morrison government to stop its own members of parliament from spreading outrageous misinformation.

In the time I have left, I just want to go to one other brave whistleblower, from Sydney Airport, who has spoken about how the drivers and now the entire country were let down by lazy and negligent processes—particularly when we then turn to the poor limo driver, who has been singled out and ostracised for being Patient Zero in the latest outbreak. Passenger buses there are used to transport international arrivals to hotel quarantine. They are cleaned comprehensively by cleaners in full PPE between every single trip at the airport. That's best practice. The Australian Defence Force has been brought in to load luggage into these buses in a COVID-safe manner. That is best practice. But, for the international crew on passenger or freight flights, none of these systems are in place. The vehicles used to transport crew from the airport to the hotel are not cleaned. They're not cleaned at the airport. They are not cleaned between trips. If a crew member with COVID sits in one of these minivans, then every other crew member who sits in the vehicle for the rest of the day, or even days later, is stepping into a viral bomb. Not only does the Australian Defence Force not load bags into these vehicles, but the drivers are forced to do everything themselves—whilst these bags aren't being loaded appropriately by defence personnel—without PPE, except maybe a face mask.

How is that happening? It's happening because of government inaction and incompetence. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.