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

[by video link] I rise to take note of the answers given by Senators Birmingham, Payne and Colbeck. I want to make a really clear point. We've just heard from Senator Van that there are more than enough vaccines now, but that is simply not true. I would suggest that the government and the crossbenchers have a look at the evidence that vaccines are not going to the critical areas that need them.

I will give the example. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald from 23 August mentions a pregnant woman in Sydney, Ms Topp, who is struggling to access the COVID-19 vaccine, despite emerging evidence that pregnant women can experience severe disease if they contract the virus, with rising numbers of cases in the demographic. Ms Topp said:

I'm going through the public system—I don't have an obstetrician … It is like a secret handshake situation. It has become about who you know.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have urged practitioners and governments to prioritise pregnant women. Frenchs Forest obstetrician Dr Talat Uppal said:

I don't know if the finite nature of pregnancy is being appreciated: these women are going to deliver and some may deliver early. They need to receive the vaccine in a timely way.

There have been 39 pregnant women that have contracted COVID-19. This is a particularly disturbing outcome of the government's lack of action.

Then we move to the aged-care facilities, none of which are getting the number of vaccinations they need. There's not enough there. Listen to them. They're saying that there is not enough.

Gerard Hayes, secretary of the Health Services Union, said many workers in the sector who wanted to get vaccinated hadn't been able to do so. He said people had made appointments and had to cancel them to go to work. He said he was receiving calls from those in the sector looking for assistance to get vaccinated, including workers from the Central Coast and in Dubbo, and he was concerned about the pressure on workers. He said:

We are seeing people leaving the industry and that worries me due to the workforce that's required now and into the future.

Quite clearly, the government's failing pregnant women, it's failed the aged-care sector and it's now failed with the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Just over a quarter of Australians in the NDIS are fully vaccinated, below the national average, yet this was a priority group—the highest priority for the government. They have failed time and time again. They have put people at risk because of their own incompetence. As Australia battles its most serious outbreak of COVID-19 to date, just 26.9 per cent of the 267,526 NDIS participants aged over 16, who are in phase 1a and 1b of the vaccine rollout, are fully vaccinated. These are just horrific statistics. Don't take it from me. Anne Kavanagh, professor of disability and health and an epidemiologist at the University of Melbourne, said the vaccine rollout for disabled Australians was 'negligent' and a 'failure', and the consequences could be dire amid a surging delta outbreak.

This is clearly the government's failure to turn around and take all the appropriate steps. Let's just look at the track record. Mr Morrison says he doesn't hold a hose. Mr Morrison says the vaccine rollout isn't a race. Mr Morrison says New South Wales didn't need to go into lockdown. Mr Morrison is a Prime Minister in name only, because he certainly hasn't filled the duties of Prime Minister throughout this pandemic, and his continuing failure is putting everyone at risk.

Question agreed to.