Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] It was indeed very refreshing to hear a member of the government benches congratulate a Labor state premier for doing a good job in dealing with the pandemic. It was very refreshing to hear Senator Cash acknowledge Mr McGowan and his incredible hard work to keep the people of his home state of Western Australia safe. It was as refreshing as a cool change in a heatwave, because the members of this government have done nothing but pile heat onto Labor state premiers during this pandemic. They have done nothing but pile on to Labor state premiers and to the people that they represent. They have done nothing but pile on to Labor state premiers, who have been doing everything they can to keep Australians safe—making the tough decisions, making the difficult calls, making those calls to keep all of us safe.

Right now Victorians, who are locked down, can only imagine what our lives would be like if Mr Morrison had spent last year doing his job instead of attacking Victorians, instead of attacking our state premier, instead of attacking the measures that were put in place in Victoria to keep us all safe. Victorians know that we would not be in the situation of being locked down yet again if the Prime Minister had only done his two jobs—rolling out the vaccine and establishing federal, dedicated, open-air quarantine facilities. If only he had secured those vaccines for the start of this year instead of saying that it's how you end the race, at the end of the year, that matters. If only he had understood the whole time that it was always a race. If only he had fronted up to his two jobs, the two jobs that Australians needed him to do: the speedy rollout of vaccinations and purpose-built quarantine. If only the Prime Minister had spent his time on that instead of spending his time attacking Victorians and funding Clive Palmer's attack on the WA government and its health response.

Instead, what we have seen from this Prime Minister is 18 months of avoiding responsibility, looking for others to blame, blaming states for lockdowns—lockdowns that were caused by his failure to build purpose-built quarantine facilities and his failure in relying on leaky hotel quarantine, hotels that were built for tourists, not to keep a virus from entering the community. If only the Prime Minister hadn't spent his time blaming the very people who really need to be vaccinated for not being able to access the vaccines! He has been blaming essential workers and Indigenous people for his failure to vaccinate those vulnerable populations.

Now, this week, the Prime Minister doesn't even try to hide his extreme aversion to taking responsibility in this crisis. He said this week that ultimately everything is a state matter. Well, we know what the Prime Minister's responsibilities are. We know who is ultimately responsible. We know who has ultimately failed on vaccines and on quarantine, and that is Prime Minister Morrison. He failed to heed the advice of his own health advisers and invest in fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities, instead claiming again and again and again that the hotel quarantine system was effective—that it was 99.9 per cent effective. Well, tell that to the 60 per cent of Australians who are locked down today. Tell that to the children who are missing school. Tell that to all of the people who have lost their jobs. Tell that to all of the people who are relying on disaster payments.

What Australians want from the Prime Minister right now is leadership. They want him to do his job. They want him to take responsibility. They want him to bring people together—not to divide us and shift blame but to take responsibility.

Question agreed to.