Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Birmingham) and the Minister for Regionalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education (Senator McKenzie) to questions without notice asked by Senators Ayres and O'Neill today relating to COVID-19 outbreak in New South Wales and to COVID-19 misinformation.

I want to commence my remarks by acknowledging the ripple of fear, shock and distress that's moving through this place here today as the ACT goes into lockdown. Lockdown has been miraculously avoided here, and now the anxiety that has gripped the Victorians for so many months and is now in its eighth week in New South Wales is coming on. We know how difficult this is. But we hear the problems of Australians being cast aside in the responses that we received from Minister Birmingham today. He will drop his voice and be very serious and sensible in his elocution of the government's continuing failing response. The Morrison-Joyce government has let this virus get away from us, and it is now running rampant right across the country—out in my great state of New South Wales and into very, very vulnerable communities.

It's no wonder that the disapproval rating for the rollout is nearly at 60 per cent. Malcolm Turnbull—actually telling the truth—said: 'I can't think of a bigger black-and-white failure of public administration than this.' And he said that about his own colleagues with whom he shared a party room—the Liberal and National parties, who have been in government for eight years and who are supposedly great managers of the economy. People trusted them to do the right thing. And here we are at this juncture in this country; the place is literally ravaged with COVID-19 spreading at an extraordinary rate across the entire country. The virus has spread certainly to Dubbo and Walgett. That's nearly eight hours away from Sydney. I know it's not as far as some of the distances that are driven in Queensland and the Northern Territory, but it's still a pretty big state. Walgett, Bathurst, Dubbo and the shires of Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Narromine and Warren are all now in lockdown.

Do not forget that this experience of lockdown and this inaccessibility of vaccines were brought to you by the stars of the show, Mr Morrison and Mr Joyce. They're the two leaders who are responsible for the decision-making that has led us to this day. In New South Wales, 345 people were found to have acquired COVID in the last 24 hours. We know, just in the last two months, since this most recent outbreak, there have been 36 deaths, and 93 deaths from the current outbreak. We know that there is a huge toll on families, businesses and communities, and part of the reason we're in this situation is that the golden girl, Premier Berejiklian, was encouraged to hold out against going into lockdown.

We've got Indigenous communities right across this state, including those in Dubbo, who are in a great deal of worry about being able to access services and get the vaccinations that they so desperately need. I was in Dubbo in the seat of Parkes earlier this year, and I met with the Aboriginal medical service. They're funded for four full-time GPs, but they've only got one. They can't roll out to the Aboriginal community. In Deniliquin, I met with the Deniliquin Health Action Group and Marion Magee, who has been there for 32 years as a general specialist. What are their concerns? Their concerns are health professional staffing and the ability to provide medical services to children. Access to medical services: that is the disaster and that is the context into which this failed government is actually embedding further and further problems.

Those opposite might smile and think that this is some sort of a joke, but it isn't. My colleague on the Central Coast—the great Labor member—Emma McBride and I have been fighting to get a vaccination hub for the 350,000 people on the Central Coast. That's bigger than the population of the Northern Territory. What did the Liberal member Lucy Wicks say? She said: 'We don't need it; the GPs are enough.' Not good enough. What's happening on the Central Coast—with the ignoring of 350,000 people in one area and the failed delivery of leadership by the Liberal and National parties—is a warning to the people of Dubbo. I want to encourage the great work of Councillor Stephen Lawrence, the Mayor of Dubbo, for his great leadership and for his contribution to public debate this morning. I urge all Australians to stay safe, because, if you don't look after yourself, this government is not looking after you. (Time expired)