Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] What we've just seen from Senator Van is an example of the hyperpartisanship and ideological undermining of state governments by coalition senators that has done so much to undermine the role of the states in dealing with this emergency. The truth is that people went to events in 1919, while the Spanish flu raged around the country, because there was no vaccine. We have the prospect of a vaccination program that would mean that the economy could open up and that Australians could return to normal, and the only thing standing in the way of that has been the failure of this Prime Minister to deliver vaccine supply to Australia.

The coronavirus outbreak in New South Wales, and, in particular, in regional New South Wales, is a national emergency. It's an emergency composed of many smaller emergencies, and one of those is occurring in the beautiful township of Wilcannia. It's a place where the Paakantyi people lived long before Europeans arrived. Once our third-largest inland port, it's now a place where the gap between outcomes for us in the city and those for Indigenous Australians has never been more stark. The life expectancy in Wilcannia before the pandemic arrived was just 40—just 40. When I last travelled there, the Darling River—the Baaka, in the local language—was dry. The people who'd lived by the river for thousands of years were having to bring bottled water in from Broken Hill.

There are now 43 COVID cases in Wilcannia, spreading through overcrowded houses among an unvaccinated and vulnerable population. Slow testing times and limitations on health services mean that the spread of the virus is much more likely to be larger than current statistics show. There are now over 350 active cases in western New South Wales, overwhelmingly among our First Australians. The majority of those are in Dubbo, but there are positive cases in Bourke, Walgett, Narromine, Parkes, Broken Hill, Brewarrina, Gilgandra and Wellington. Many of these cases are occurring in communities where the only health services that are available are from the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and it is hours and hours by ambulance to the nearest ICU facilities. Walgett hospital has four beds, none of them ICU.

As of Monday, there were 109 active cases amongst First Nations people in Sydney, and there are cases in the Indigenous community on the Mid North Coast, in Kempsey and Nambucca. We have always known that Indigenous Australians are more vulnerable to this virus. The government's emergency response plan for the coronavirus says:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are at a higher risk from morbidity and mortality during a pandemic and for more rapid spread of disease, particularly within discrete communities.

But we have failed to address the social determinants of health for these communities: overcrowding, poor housing and a lack of adequate access to clean water. These failings matter, and no more so than when facing a deadly pandemic. It's why protecting Indigenous Australians from coronavirus was a priority from the start of the pandemic. Yet in every state except Victoria there are lower rates of vaccination for Indigenous Australians, with just 12.1 per cent of First Nations people in New South Wales being fully vaccinated. In western New South Wales the difference is even more stark. In the far west and Orana district 13.4 per cent of Australians are vaccinated, but among Indigenous people it's just over eight per cent and in some communities it's two per cent. Six months into the vaccine rollout and the Morrison-Joyce government has forgotten to vaccinate its most vulnerable communities. They are playing catch-up now.

I want to acknowledge the efforts of the local leaders, the Aboriginal community controlled health organisations and the local health service in western New South Wales that are doing their best to deliver a surge in vaccinations. But it's not what the government promised Indigenous Australians. On 14 February a joint media release from then ministers McCormack and Coulton said:

Every person living in regional, rural, and remote Australia can rest assured they will have access to safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines at the same time as their city cousins.

What smug complacency. Mr Coulton's electorate covers the Orana far west health district, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country and 300 positive cases. On 8 March a joint media release from ministers Hunt and Wyatt said:

A comprehensive vaccine implementation plan … has been developed in consultation with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector …

And yet months later here we are. Where did we go wrong? Who should be held accountable for this abject failure? Who is responsible? A table outlining the responsibilities of the federal government says very clearly on pages 5 and 6 of the COVID-19 vaccination implementation plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that the federal government will:

Failure.

Failed.

Failed.

There's no evidence of that whatsoever. The Morrison-Joyce government has failed either partly or completely on each of those criteria. They were the federal government's responsibilities to Aboriginal people, clearly outlined in their own implementation plan. They promised, they failed and now First Nations people are filling the Dubbo hospital.

At the same time the outbreak occurred, the Morrison-Joyce government was congratulating itself for protecting First Nations people from COVID-19. At the Closing the Gap press conference on 5 August the Prime Minister said:

… one of our greatest concerns, if not our greatest concern at the outset of this pandemic, was the potential harm it would do in Indigenous communities. And, to date, we have been successful in preventing that harm in Indigenous communities.

Those are just words from this Prime Minister: words that have no relationship to facts, words that have no relationship to what the government has or hasn't done. It's regional Australians who are paying the price and it's Aboriginal Australians who are paying the price because the Morrison-Joyce government forgets about towns like Walgett. They forget about west Dubbo. They forgot about Wilcannia in the cruel way that places like Wilcannia are always forgotten by people in the Morrison-Joyce government.

A friend of mine in Dubbo has a daughter who's tested COVID positive. She's a single mum with toddlers, and one of the little ones is also COVID positive. He said to me this morning, 'This is such a strange time,' as his voice was breaking. He can't provide support to that mother and her kids. He's terrified about what's going to happen to them, and this failure of the government to provide vaccines in western New South Wales has real human consequences for people in the bush in New South Wales.

It is likely that in western New South Wales there will be terrible days and weeks ahead of us. There are things that should be resolved now. Some of these towns now have no access to fresh food because they can't access the shops. They are in big households; if somebody is infected, the whole household is quarantined. They have no access to fresh food and supplies. There are mums who can't access nappies, baby wipes, bottles or formula. Where is the federal government on these issues? Many of these communities are so far away from the hospital services that are required that they are relying upon the hardworking Royal Flying Doctor Service in the event of an emergency.

I say to the Morrison-Joyce government: if, according to the Doherty plan and the national cabinet modelling that's been provided, we are going to open up when the 70 to 80 per cent level is achieved in the cities, let's make sure we've got adequate protection for our bush communities as well, particularly our First Nations communities.