Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was a very sad contribution from Senator Watt. It was a sad contribution from a sad opposition. We had a moment of hope last year, 18 months ago, that those opposite would take seriously their responsibilities as an alternative government and actually work together with the government—and we are the government; the Australian people elected us—to get through a global pandemic the likes of which the world has not seen for a hundred years. Instead, that moment of hope, that moment of light that the opposition would actually take this seriously and not delve into the politics of it, lasted such a brief period of time.

Luckily, we still have the national cabinet, where states and territories are still working together to find a path out of this pandemic. That path has been mapped by the national cabinet, led by the Morrison government. That path is clear to people, and that path is based on an accelerating vaccine rollout. And guess what, Senator Watt? Guess what, those opposite? The vaccine rollout is accelerating. Did it have some issues? It absolutely did.

Senator Polley interjecting—

It absolutely had some issues, Senator Polley, and we have admitted those issues and confronted those issues. The age recommendation on AstraZeneca changed, and that did cause a lot of hesitancy in regard to AstraZeneca. However, that has largely flowed through now, and we see that people are embracing AstraZeneca as a very good, very effective vaccine against this pandemic, along with Pfizer and, soon, along with the Moderna vaccine. And we see it every day. Do those opposite actually look at the numbers that are coming out every day? There were 335,000 vaccines administered yesterday; the day before, 307,000. It's accelerating every day. In the last 28 days—and I'm sure Senator O'Sullivan knows the answer to this and I'm sure Senator Askew knows the answer—how many vaccines have we seen administered? It's 6.16 million—six million plus vaccinations administered in the last 28 days.

And now, from medical advice, we're starting to talk about younger Australians. The medical advice on 12- to 15-year-olds is starting to come through from ATAGI. We've had preliminary advice so far—it's going to be considered by the National Security Committee of cabinet—and final advice, hopefully, will be available very, very soon. Do we know how many people are in that category in Australia, in that 12 to 15 age group? I suspect those on this side do. I bet those on that side wouldn't have a clue. There are 1.2 million. Senator O'Sullivan and Senator Askew could do the numbers easily on 1.2 million, if you're doing six million doses approximately every 30 days. Obviously, you've got to wait that period between administering the two doses. But that age group will be incorporated into what is now an accelerating and very successful vaccine rollout. I remind those listening to this today just how quick that acceleration has been. In March, 770,000 vaccines were administered. By June, that had risen to 3.5 million; in July, it rose to 4.5 million; and, in the last 28 days, it's risen to 6.16 million doses.

Those opposite want to carp, they want to criticise, they want to cast a political lens on this as we head towards an election, and that is just very sad. And I think the Australian people will cast judgement on the Labor Party's response to this pandemic very harshly indeed. I think the Australian people will judge your response to this pandemic very harshly indeed, because this was an opportunity for Australians to pull together. Australians want a pathway out of this. Australians are embracing a pathway out of this. We only need to look at these vaccination rates to know that Australians have embraced the Morrison government's pathway out of this pandemic. They want the freedoms, they want the liberties, that will come with a successful vaccine program, and that is what the Morrison government is delivering.