Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, I think Senator Cash was pretty clear when she spoke earlier today. I'm not sure whether Senator Pratt actually was in the chamber at the time. Senator Cash did state that the government will not challenge state border closures in the High Court. That's pretty clear. Throughout this pandemic the federal government has worked constructively with premiers and chief ministers, through the national cabinet process, to ensure the safety of all Australians. The government has a solid four-step national plan to transition Australia's national COVID-19 response. That plan is based on the Doherty institute's COVID-19 modelling, utilising the economic analysis conducted by the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury. The national plan is supported by an overwhelming majority of the states and territories and has been agreed to at national cabinet on more than one occasion.

The government is clear: we will not do anything to jeopardise the staged national plan to get us out of this pandemic. What I would like to know is, what is opposition leader Mr Albanese's and the Labor Party's position? Mr Albanese has at times backed the national plan and at other times, well, a different time line for opening borders and ultimately Australia. Mr Albanese continues to have that each-way bet on the future of Australians. Instead, he should wholeheartedly support and get behind the national plan.

As I mentioned earlier, the Doherty institute examined COVID-19 infection and vaccination rates in order to determine the targets required for the national plan's staged pathway to living with COVID. The plan was put in place to provide assurance and comfort to all Australians that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and the plan was agreed by national cabinet. We sought the research from the Doherty institute and have since agreed to the way forward. So, imagine the disappointment of the Australian public that we now have some premiers hesitating, stepping back from that commitment.

The open letter from the business community in national papers today really says it all. The full-page advertisement, signed by the heads of 81 of Australia's largest businesses, calls on governments across the country to work together to deliver on the plan:

As vaccination rates increase, it will become necessary to open up society and live with the virus, in the same way that other countries have done. The National Cabinet has agreed to a roadmap which provides a path out of lockdowns, with an easing of restrictions from 70% and 80% vaccination rates. We need to stay the course.

These are CEOs and managing directors such as Steven Cain from Coles Group, Steve Johnston from Suncorp, Tarun Gupta from Stockland, Peter King from Westpac, Jeanne Johns from Incitec Pivot Ltd, Tom Seymour from PwC—and the extensive and very impressive list goes on. They all understand the importance of sticking to the plan. My hope is that their plea is heard and all governments can work together to stick to the plan to enable our country to regain some semblance of normality—albeit a new norm—and allow businesses and the borders to reopen as planned. If not, jobs and businesses will be lost.

The vaccine rollout, which has also been raised, is increasing progressively each and every month: 7.3 million vaccinations were delivered in August, 4.5 million vaccinations in July, 3.4 million in June and 2.1 million in May. That is a massive increase. We're administering more than 1.9 million doses every week. Last week alone, there were nearly 1,929,000 doses, made up of 841,000 in state and territory health clinics, 50,362 in aged care and disability clinics and 1,037,000 in primary care clinics. Throughout this pandemic we have saved more than 30,000 lives, supported more than three million Australians through JobKeeper and got one million Australians back into work. With around one million Pfizer doses arriving every week, plus the additional half a million Pfizer doses secured through the doses swap with Singapore and the one million doses from Poland, our health and economic recovery is well and truly on track.

We need all states and territories to come online and make sure that we are delivering for the national plan that has been agreed and that we see a way out of this pandemic in Australia.