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

[by video link] I'm speaking from Sydney in our ninth week of lockdown. I listen to the government senators saying, 'Look at what we've achieved.' You've achieved nine weeks in which small business, working people and families are put in an extremely difficult situation as a result of the government's failure to sort out a national quarantine system and organise an efficient and speedy vaccine rollout. As COVID-19 ravages New South Wales, the vaccine rollout is still months behind schedule. Victoria, the ACT and even New Zealand have been forced into lockdown by the outbreak which began in Bondi.

It is unthinkable that, 18 months into the pandemic, six months into the vaccine rollout and nine weeks into lockdown, many of the most urgent priority groups for vaccines are still being left behind. People are still waiting outside in the pouring rain for hours at a time to get a vaccine. Just 26.9 per cent of NDIS participants over 16 are fully vaccinated. That is less than the general population, despite them being in phase 1a or 1b, the urgent and high-priority groups for vaccine access. Anne Kavanagh, a professor of disability and health at the University of Melbourne, has called the rollout for disabled Australians 'negligent' and a 'failure'. These aren't complaints; this is a call for the government to get its act together today.

It was recently reported in the news that a pregnant woman found that she could only book a vaccination appointment five months from now. This is despite the recommendation from ATAGI in June that pregnant women be urgently vaccinated due to the severe risk of COVID to their health and that of their unborn babies. Then there is the disability and aged-care workforce, who Scott Morrison promised would be vaccinated by April. Well, it's nearly September and more than 40 per cent of aged-care and disability workers are yet to have even their first jab. The Health Services Union has reported that workers have been struggling to access vaccines. The HSU says that aged-care workers have had to cancel appointments in order to go to work so that they can put food on the table. That is the reality for a workforce which is 90 per cent part time or casual. No Australian should be in such a precarious position in their job that they are forced to miss out on critical medical appointments just to get by.

When health workers are making so many sacrifices, when they are risking their health and wellbeing caring for those who are vulnerable, the least we can do is make sure they don't have to lose shifts or to pay to make their vaccine appointment. The fact is that small businesses and working Australians, particularly in western and south-west Sydney, are doing it tough during this lockdown. I think also of the businesses of working Australians in Victoria and the ACT, who are being impacted by the Bondi outbreak. Of course, there are many other parts of the country not able to receive tourism and exchanges from state to state.

When people are doing it tough, they need short-term support and they need a longer term vision for how we can get to a better place. I note a new report by Community and Patient Preference Research today, which found vaccination take-up is almost five times more likely if a $300 payment is on offer. That's not whinging; that's about solutions. This government is refusing to do it because it was the opposition who proposed it. Ludicrous! That is exactly what Labor has proposed. It's about time the Morrison government dropped its ideological opposition to providing financial incentives to vaccination. Mr Morrison certainly has no issues with giving billions in JobKeeper to Gerry Harvey and his pals. I'm sure Mr Morrison can cough up a far, far smaller amount to salvage our national vaccination program, which is still struggling to catch up from his insistence that this isn't a race.