Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let's just start with a fact, shall we? For those opposite, a fact is something based in truth. So when we talk about vaccinating children and suggest that we should be looking at children under 12—there is actually not a vaccine approved for them, globally. So let's just stop with that little piece of fallacy, shall we? Perhaps you want those of us with children under 12 to offer them up as guinea pigs? I can assure you that won't be happening. But I do note, as the parent of a 12-year-old boy who is an NDIS participant, I'm thrilled that from today my beautiful boy is now eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine. What I also know is that, had I been in Sydney, we would have been able to get an appointment tomorrow morning, at 7.30 am, at the hospital that is less than 250 metres from my apartment—250 metres from my apartment at 7.30 tomorrow morning I could have got him his first Pfizer jab—and there were multiple other options available across New South Wales. Unfortunately, I'm not in Sydney; I'm not there to be able to take it up but, had I been there, we would have been able to get our first dose tomorrow morning of Pfizer for a 12-year-old boy who's an NDIS participant.

I do accept, though, that sometimes families can struggle to find this information to figure out where they can get a booking, because they are available in health hubs, in pharmacies, through GPs. For those opposite who might actually be interested in assisting people, perhaps you'd like to direct them to my website, hollyhughes.com.au. My staff have put together a fantastic COVID page, collating all the information from federal, state and private sites to let people know where they can book a vaccine, what vaccines are available and how long it will take for them to get in.

In recognition of all NDIS participants over 12 now—as of yesterday—being eligible for a vaccine, Tom in my office really went over and above. He's put together a page specifically for people with a disability. Not only have we included information on where people can go and get a vaccine; we've actually put information in there containing social stories. Because we understand that, for a lot of people with a disability, doing something new—something a bit scary, something that you don't really understand—can be challenging, we've included links to social stories. For those of you who don't understand what they are, they're very simple stories with language and pictures that help families and carers explain to the person with a disability what's going to happen—what it means, how they might have to wait, what they're going to have to do when they get to their appointment. This is because some of us actually understand the challenges of having a child with a disability and what that means when coming to get a vaccine. We've gone out of our way—in fact, not even out of our way, just doing what we do—to include information to assist these families.

I would also like to acknowledge David in my office. He got a couple of phone calls last week from parents of children with disabilities who were struggling to find where to get a vaccine. For one family in particular, he pointed them in the right direction on our website and they managed to find one themselves. But, for another family that was still struggling, he went out of his way and made the phone calls for them, and that child received their very first dose of vaccine this week. I saw the letter yesterday from that parent, thanking him for his assistance and for going over and above what was required.

So next time Senator O'Neill gets a phone call from someone like Bodhi's mum, rather than using Bodhi as an opportunity to score a political point, perhaps Senator O'Neill and her office might like to go to some effort to actually assist the family, to actually work with them through this issue, not use them as a political pointscoring exercise. It is absolutely disgraceful. To all of those opposite sitting there, casting those stones, throwing those barbs but not really ever helping anybody, let me give you some advice: perhaps you'd like to find some real information, perhaps make it available to your constituents, perhaps ensure that people know where to go to find information, rather than fearmongering and running scare campaigns. Rather than offending and patronising parents with a disability, maybe try and help us.