Perin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Imagine this, Madam Acting Deputy President. We're often told that we in this place are out of touch, focused more on navel gazing and internal issues than on governing for the country. Today, Labor really are taking the cake, because they are more interested in navel gazing into internal Liberal Party issues than in what actually matters to the people of this country—the people of this country who are concerned about their jobs and who are concerned about their mental health. Do we really care what the Premier of New South Wales thinks about the Prime Minister behind closed doors when 44 per cent of Australians say they are concerned they are in a worse mental state today than they were pre COVID?

Labor would rather have us talking about an unsourced 'she said, she said' allegation that appeared in one weekend paper than have us governing the country. Well, I would rather focus on 'he did, he did'. Indeed, so would the Premier of New South Wales, because, when she was asked directly about this unsourced, uncorroborated claim that Labor are focusing on, Premier Berejiklian said, on the record, 'I thank the Prime Minister for his support during the entire course of the pandemic, but especially in relation to this outbreak.' The support that we have provided to New South Wales—and all states, but specifically New South Wales—is evident, because since 1 July this year over 1.7 million claims from New South Wales citizens for COVID disaster payments have been granted, claims valued at $921 million with a further $2.6 billion being issued via recurring payments.

Labor have their slogan of the week. 'The PM had just two jobs,' they say. Well, if that's the case, I'm going to say: 'Prime Minister, slow down. You are clearly overachieving.' As well as the two jobs that the Labor Party say he should be focusing on, the Prime Minister has also led national cabinet to an agreed, updated, four-step National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID-19 Response. The Prime Minister has led an expansion of the New South Wales business support package, which now supports more than 400,000 businesses employing 3.3 million workers just in New South Wales. That's only in New South Wales, not to mention the expanded support.

We've got an additional $400 million in Victorian business support packages. We've increased the disaster payment to $750 for individuals who've lost 20 or more hours work a week. We've also secured an extra 85 million doses of Pfizer, providing access to additional booster vaccines into the future that will protect Australians in an ongoing way. We've invested $125.7 billion in Medicare over the forward estimates.

We've announced $36 million in innovative medical product manufacturing projects, which bring manufacturing onshore to help protect Australians and keep Australians safe from COVID. We've extended telehealth consultations. We've waived childcare gap fees for parents. We've unveiled $1 billion in funding to underpin the first Closing the Gap Implementation Plan, which has been developed with Indigenous Australians, not for Indigenous Australians. We've announced a financial and wellbeing redress scheme for living stolen generations members. We've aided the Queensland government in its very successful bid to secure the 2032 Olympic Games. Congratulations to Queensland. The list goes on. I congratulate our government for overachieving. Keep up the good work, Prime Minister.